


King Thrushbeard

by JasonPeace



Category: Tokio Hotel
Genre: Alternate Universe, Comedy, Love at First Sight, M/M, Romance, Twincest - Not Related, fairytale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-23
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-04-10 20:05:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 35
Words: 82,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4405649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JasonPeace/pseuds/JasonPeace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When arrogant, shallow Prince Bill rejects and cruelly dubs his suitor, King Thomas Trümper IV, ‘King Thrushbeard’, his parents become so angry that they proclaim Bill must marry the next person who shows up at the doors of the palace. </p><p>A few days later, a poor, lute-playing minstrel named Tom shows up at the castle, begging for food. Keeping true to their word, Bill’s parents force him to marry the beggar and leave the palace to go live in a dirty cottage in the forest that belongs to King Thrushbeard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Original story by the Brothers Grimm
> 
> **********
> 
> Please don't take this story too serious. Also, I don't know any medieval court english, so it's just... normal english with a few 'your highness's thrown in there. Thank you for your unerstanding xD

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, lived a beautiful young prince by the name of William. Together with his mothers, Queen Arabella and Queen Elena, he lived in a large palace in the kingdom of Geraneia, which had fallen into a hundred-year war with the neighboring kingdom of Begonia. Said war had torn both kingdoms apart, all due to a lake that separated their lands, and from which neither kingdom was willing to back down.  
Though the prince was blessed with cunning intelligence and beauty that was well known in all the land, he was equally arrogant and cold, uncaring of anyone other than himself. 

 

 

 

"Good morning your highness!"

Prince Bill growled, blinking into the sun; "Get out!" he snarled angrily at the maid who was pulling back the curtains.

"But your highness, your mothers are expecting you for breakfast... or lunch," she said urgently, continuing with her task.

"I'm tired and I want to sleep. I order you to leave my chambers immediately!" Bill ordered angrily, pulling the covers over his head. He knew why his mothers wanted to see him; they wanted to talk about tomorrow. Tomorrow. Another one of those terrible days when he had to listen to countless suitors who wanted to marry him because of his land and heir; damn all of them.

"But your highness!" the chamber maid continued.

"Out!!" the prince screamed, throwing the beautiful porcelain water pitcher that he always kept on his nightstand, should he get thirsty at night.

The maid cried out in horror and ran from his room, slamming the door on her way out; great, now he had to close the curtains on his own. Deciding that was too much effort, he crawled back under the covers, trying to find some sleep again.

Of course that didn't happen because only a few moments later his valet, Andreas, walked in with his clothes - accompanied by various servants who provided his morning bath.

"Good morning your highness," Andreas greeted in usual polite way while Bill peeked out from under the covers; today sucked.

"Your mothers are expecting you for lunch in an hour, and afterwards the royal tailor is here for a last fitting of your attire for tomorrow," Andreas continued while he placed Bill's clothes over the changing screen.

Bill muttered a few unflattering words while he moodily stalked out of bed, pushing away a servant who was trying to help him up; "Don't touch me with your grubby little hands, peasant!" he snarled at the man who backed away immediately, deeply bowing his head in apology.

Crankily, Bill stalked to the washing basin and ordered his servants to wash him, being far too lazy to do something so mundane himself.

"Ow! Don't use such a hard sponge! Is that made of wood or what?!" he snapped angrily, tossing the offending sponge across the room; "Get me a new one!"

One of the servants hurried away to get a new sponge while two others used linen cloths to wash him instead.  
The sponge didn't make it back in time to wash Bill, and the two servants carefully began to dry him, while a third combed through his messy morning hair.

"Ah! You're pulling my hair out! A chicken could do a better job with its claws!" the prince complained angrily, glaring at the struggling servant.

"Your highness," Andreas quickly called his attention before Bill managed to scratch the servants eyes out for what he was doing to his hair; "I brought two different gowns for you today. Which one would you prefer?" he asked, indicating at the two attires that were being held out to him by the two servants who had dried him off.

"Pff... that's the best you could find?" Bill criticized, eyeing the garments with disapproval; "I wore that one last week already - burn it. And that one... well there's a good reason I haven't worn it yet, it's disgusting – throw it away and get me something new!" the prince ordered, crossing his arms in front of his bare chest.

"B-but your highness," Andreas began making up excuses.

"Now!" Bill yelled angrily and Andreas immediately retreated with the garments still carried by the two other servants.  
However, before Andreas managed to open the door, the set of double doors swung open, and in walked the queen; Bill groaned.

"Queen Arabella!" Andreas and all the servants bowed before her.

"Good morning, darling!" she greeted him, waving at the servants as she walked past them.

"Mother! What do you want in here?" Bill growled, grabbing a robe and covering himself.

"It's already 12:40. I just wanted to see how you were coming along," Arabella smiled at him.

"I'm not having lunch today. I have nothing to wear! I will never leave my room ever again!" the prince pouted.

"Now, now, darling!" the queen tried to sooth him; "You have so many lovely clothes, I'm sure there is something nice for you to wear?" she asked hopefully.

"No!" Bill refused, turning his head away; "I will not leave this room until you get me new clothes! And new jewelry because mine is old and ugly."

"But my darling, where am I meant to find clothes on such short notice? The royal tailor is coming today – why don't you just wear one of your other beautiful garments right now, and today we can ask him to make you something new?" his mother suggested quickly.

"But I already wore them all!" Bill sulked.

"Why don't you wear one that you wore a long time ago?" the queen tried to persuade him.

"Ugh, fine! But just this once! I better have new clothes the next time I have to go somewhere!" Bill huffed in annoyance.

"Of course, sweetheart! Anything for you!" Arabella beamed at him.

With a defeated sigh, Bill stormed towards his dressing room where Andreas and the two servants where searching through the endless racks of clothes.

"How about this one, your highness? You always loved this one," Andreas held out the black, velvet tunic to him.

Bill rolled his eyes; "Fine, whatever. Dress me and hurry up! I'm starving," he ordered the servants who immediately began dressing him.

~*~

"Your majesty!"

King Tom sighed, looking down from the tree he was perched up on; "Geo, how often have I told you not to call me that? Especially when no one else is around anyway," he laughed down at one of his squires and best friends.

Georg chuckled; "Your father wishes to see you... my king," he added with a smile.

"Great... right now?" Tom sighed, looking down at the book he'd been reading.

"Yes, right now. He says it's urgent," Georg nodded thoughtfully; "What are you doing up there anyway?" he asked curiously.

"Hiding. From my father and the rest of the world," Tom sighed, lifting his book for Georg to see.

"You and your poetry! That won't help you become a better king either," the squire chuckled.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that!" Tom gasped with a grin.

"Come down here, my king, your father has the entire castle looking for you," Georg laughed.

"Alright alright, I'm coming," the young king nodded, jumping down from the tree.

"Your majesty! Where have you been? We've been looking for you for hours! Don't always be climbing such high trees, your majesty, you may injure yourself," squire Gustav suddenly appeared out of nowhere and scolded him with one of his mother-tones.

"Relax Gusti, I'm fine," Tom laughed, patting his worried friend's shoulder. Ever since he had become king, Gustav hadn't stopped fussing over everything he did, trying to keep him out of harm's way even if the harm was supposed to be a tree.

"Yeah, we haven't been looking for you for hours, just for a few minutes, actually," Georg rolled his eyes at Gustav's fussing.

"It was at least half an hour!" Gustav justified.

"Relax! Guys! You found me and I'm fine. Let's go," Tom chuckled at his friends as they made their way back to their horses.

"Any clue on what my dad wants? Let me guess, it's about tomorrow, right?" the king sighed; ever since his father had retired due to illness, his kingdom's responsibilities had fallen on him even though he felt he wasn't ready for it, and now his parents felt he needed to marry their neighboring prince because it would settle a long-term conflict between their kingdoms.  
The neighboring prince was named Bill and he was supposed to choose a suitor tomorrow - that's all Tom knew about him. Due to the conflict between their kingdoms, no one really knew much about prince Bill, but Tom was certain he didn't want to marry him.

"Thomas dearest, where have you been?" his mother, Francesca, asked as soon as he entered his father's bedroom.

"Out reading one of those nonsensical romance books, no doubt!" his father, Fredrick, scoffed at him from his bed. The berating didn't last long because he soon began to cough and was left unable to speak while his wife hurried over to his side.

"There, there, my dear, think about your health and don't upset yourself!" she patted his back in concern.

"Get off me, woman! I'm perfectly fine!" he coughed heavily.

Francesca sent Tom a disapproving look; "Your reckless behavior will soon be the death of him!"

"What?" Tom muttered under his breath; "I didn't do anything..."

"Please leave us. Thomas and I need to have a serious conversation from father to son!" Fredrick told his wife who nodded and exited the room while Tom began to regret his decision in having come here.

"Sit down, my son," his father indicating to the chair next to the bed that his mother had occupied earlier.

With an inaudibly sigh, Tom sat down; every time his father said something that included 'my son', it was bound to get bad.

"Thomas," Fredrick started solemnly, and Tom had the desire to roll his eyes; "You are now 24 years old and responsible for our country. Which is why, tomorrow, I expect you to be at your best behavior when courting prince Bill. He is a wonderful match for you, and the union with his kingdom will be of great benefit."

"What benefit? The only reason you want me to marry him is so that that ridiculous lake will finally be yours!" Tom groaned in exasperation.

"That lake has always belonged to Begonia! It wasn't until 200 years ago when Geraneia suddenly claimed it was theirs!" his father exclaimed, breaking into another coughing fit.

"And you want to force me into a loveless marriage with a stranger so you can claim it as yours again?" Tom asked in disbelief; they had already had this conversation various times, but no matter how much he tried to reason with his father, he wouldn't back down.

"Stop being ridiculous, Tom. There is no such thing as a marriage for love – that only exists in your silly stories. You and Bill will come to love each other over time, just like me and your mother," Fredrick insisted.

"But you hate her and wish she would die," Tom pointed out dully.

"...Yes, well I'm sure your marriage will be far better," his father nodded quickly, dismissing the fact with a hand movement.

"Uh-huh," Tom muttered.

"What I'm trying to say-"

"What you're trying to say is that you want me to marry some random prince so you can finally have your precious lake all to yourself. Well you should have thought of that before you crowned me king. As king, I have the right to decide whom, if anyone at all, I shall ever marry. And I can assure you, if I ever marry, it shall be out of love and not for any other reason!" Tom stated firmly, storming out of the room before his father had the chance to object.

How dare his father try to promise him to their neighboring kingdom just for a lake. It was a nice lake, but certainly not worth his heart.  
Frustrated, Tom stomped down the halls where he soon encountered his loyal squires.

"Is everything alright, your majesty?" Georg asked politely.

"Yeah, Geo... fine," Tom sighed, shaking his head; "I'm riding out. I'll be back in a few hours."

"But your majesty!" Gustav stopped him; "What shall we tell the royal tailor? He's here to fit your attire for tomorrow."

Tom rolled his eyes; "I'm not going to that audience tomorrow anyway, so it really doesn't matter. I'll see you guys later."

"But-!" Gustav tried again.

"He'll be back later, Gusti!" Georg pulled his friend back so he wouldn't run after the king who was already halfway outside in search of his horse. Maybe he should ride down to the lake.

~*~

"Ugh! These clothes are terrible! What are these awful colors? You want me to look like a jester?!" Bill yelled at the tailor.

"Now, now, my dear! It doesn't look half bad!" queen Arabella tried to sooth him.

"Mother, stay out of this for you know nothing about fashion!" Bill huffed before turning his attention back to the tailor; "If I weren't such a nice guy I would have you fed to the wolves, you incompetent twit!" the prince yelled angrily, tossing the scarlet satin tunic to the ground.

"M-my prince, perhaps if we combine it with a black, fur-trimmed mantle?" the tailor asked carefully.

"Fine, but only of the darkest mink. Don't mix any of that ugly, brownish fur in it," Bill snapped, turning around to leave the fitting room; "And hurry up with that. I expect another fitting latest by tomorrow morning!"

With that said, he stormed down the halls until he ran into his mother, Elena; this couldn't be good.

"Bill, how did the fitting go?" she asked skeptically.

"Terrible," Bill sighed; "That tailor is incompetent - you should get rid of him."

"Don't always be so arrogant Bill, he does a perfectly good job for everyone else, too," she said coldly.

"Yeah well he hates me! He's trying to kill me with these terrible clothes!" the prince complained loudly.

"Stop being so dramatic. I'm sure your clothes look perfectly fine. And I expect you to behave a little better tomorrow. Once you're married, you're free to behave as bad as you wish, but until then I expect you not to scare off any suitors, understood?" queen Elena said sharply.

"Yes, mother," Bill scoffed, brushing past her and running outside; sometimes he just hated his life.

He didn't want to get married, and he couldn't believe his mothers were forcing him to do this. There was no way he would marry any of those dumb people who would show up tomorrow; none of them deserved him anyway.

Angrily, he stormed down to the stables, wanting to get away from all this mess. Maybe he should ride down to the lake, go for a swim or something, to take his mind off this whole wedding thing.


	2. Chapter 2

Tom took a deep breath of the fresh spring air as he approached the lake, regretting he hadn't brought his lute along; it was the perfect day to sit at the lakeshore and play a bit of music.

His trusted horse slowly trotted through the thick forest, and soon enough he was able to see the sparkling from the lake through the trees. As they reached the edge of the forest, Tom dismounted and left his horse to graze in the small clearing while he made his way closer to the lake, searching for a nice spot in the shade where he could sit and read for a bit.

Just as he had found the perfect spot, splashing from the lake called his attention and he searched the calm water surface for the disturbance. And that's when he spotted him, just a few feet from the shore. The most beautiful man he had ever laid eyes on.  
His shiny, raven hair cascaded down pale, porcelain shoulders and enveloped the delicate curve of his jeweled neck which let his head lean backwards, his eyes closed against the warm, afternoon sun.  
The image was so serene, Tom had to blink a few times to ensure himself he wasn't under a spell. He was completely captivated by the bathing beauty that was unaware of his presence and floated aimlessly in the sparkling waters which gave him the appearance of an angel.

Barely able to breathe, Tom ducked behind a few bushes as the man lifted his head a bit and opened his eyes. Those beautiful, deep, brown eyes that were decorated with a hint of make-up, bewitched all of Tom's senses, and in that moment he was certain he had found the love of his life.

The unknown beauty approached the shore, pulling himself up on a few rocks and lying out in the sun to dry while Tom admired the little of his body he was able to see from his hiding spot. The rest of his skin was just as pale and flawless as his face, and his long, thin limbs stretched on the rocks looked almost surreal against the dark surface.

It was a few minutes later, that seemed like mere seconds to Tom, when the man slowly sat back up, twirling a water lily between his fingers while humming a soft melody Tom had never heard before.

While Tom fell deeper and deeper in love with the stranger, this one suddenly began to sing with the most delectable voice Tom had ever had the pleasure to hear. He could barely pay attention to the words, something about a thousand oceans – the only thing he understood was that this man was singing about love and longing. Something Tom knew more than enough about, having been searching for it unsuccessfully his whole life.

"Your highness!" a voice from the other side of the lake suddenly interrupted them, and Tom ducked even farther, scared to be seen.

"Your highness, you are on Begonian ground! Please return over here, prince Bill!" the squire from the Geraneian shore called.

"Prince Bill?" Tom whispered in disbelief, watching as the man jumped into the lake and slowly swam back to his squire.

Tom stared at the lake in disbelief even long after the prince had disappeared on the other shore, not able to comprehend what had just happened. Had that truly been prince Bill? Prince Bill of Geraneia, the one he was supposed to court tomorrow? He could barely believe it – but it had to be! How many other princes named Bill could Geraneia possibly have?

In a hurry to get home, Tom galloped almost the entire way back to the castle and then ran up the steps into the parlor where Georg was telling the tailor to leave.

"Wait wait wait!" Tom yelled, bursting into the room and drawing everyone's attention on him.

Quickly he cleared his throat, trying to behave a little more dignified; "Master Levitt, my clothes if you please," he requested from the tailor, nodding at Georg who raised a curious eyebrow.

The tailor and his assistant helped him into the elaborate clothes that fit quite well, according to him, but apparently needed a few minor changes before he wore them tomorrow.

"What happened at the lake, my king? " Georg chuckled once everyone else had left and they made their way to Tom's room together with Gustav. Obviously both of them had noticed Tom's change of mood.

"I met him," Tom grinned stupidly.

"Who, your majesty?" Gustav asked patiently.

"Stop calling me that. I met prince Bill! Down by the lake," Tom whispered in excitement, trying to keep their conversation private as they passed various palace servants.

"What?!" both his squires asked in disbelief.

"Ah, he's amazing!" Tom almost danced down the hall; "You should have seen him... with that face – like an angel!"

Georg and Gustav exchanged a weird look; obviously they both thought he'd gone mental.

"And that voice!" Tom continued happily; "He's the most beautiful, charming and lovely creature I ever laid eyes on."

"Oh-kay..." Georg said slowly, now looking downright freaked out.

"You must accompany me to Geraneia tomorrow. You have to see him, or you won't understand what I'm speaking of," Tom insisted as they entered his chambers.

"So we're going then...?" Gustav asked, carefully optimistic.

"Yes!" Tom said brightly; "Now... I need a present. What the heck do other suitors bring to such occasions?" he asked slowly, having no clue how something like this was done; it was the first time he was proposing to someone, after all.

"Jewelry is a very good gift for such an occasion, Sire," Gustav nodded, always knowing etiquette.

"Good! Get me the most expensive necklace in the kingdom!" Tom said brightly, before changing his mind only a second later; "Wait!"

Gustav had been about to leave to go on the errand, but paused at the door, looking a bit distressed.

"No necklace... he'll probably get a million necklaces from everyone else... I need something more special..." Tom mumbled slowly, pacing up and down.

"How about a bracelet then?" Gustav suggested.

"No, no, no, no, no," Tom shook his head; "Something more personal..."

"Yeah um... that may be difficult, your majesty, given we don't know anything about this prince," Georg tried helpfully.

"Oh... yeah... damn."

~*~

"Good morning, your highness!"

Bill growled against the brightness as the maid opened the curtains; another day. Wonderful.

"I'm sick, I have to stay in bed today," Bill rasped, throwing in a few coughs for good measure.

"But your highness! Princes and princesses from all over the lands have come a long way to see you today!" the maid said brightly.

"Get out," Bill growled darkly, staggering out of his bed. The maid quickly took her leave, and Bill locked the door behind her, barring it with a chair just to be sure, and then crawled back into bed, feeling miserable.

There was no way he would marry a perfect stranger just because his parents were fed up with him and wanted him to be busy with someone else. They had never bothered to spend any time with him anyway because they were always too busy with all their political crap, and battles over that ridiculous lake. Alright, so the lake wasn't ridiculous – it was Bill's favorite place in the world, but the fights going on between their kingdom and the neighboring kingdom of Begonia were beyond ridiculous, and he hated his parents for it. Sometimes he felt like that damned lake had destroyed his entire childhood; once he was king he would... do something about that. Of course he had no clue what, but something.

Sadly his peace didn't last long before an incisive knocking resounded through his entire quarters, together with Andreas' annoying voice that called for him to open the door.

Bill decided to ignore it, covering his ears with his hands and humming.

At least until his mother's loud screechy voice could be heard through the door; "Bill! Darling! Open the door or your mother will be very upset!" Arabella called at him.

The prince just groaned, unsure whether he was afraid of his mother's wrath or not.  
Eventually he just rolled his eyes and decided it couldn't get any worse than having to marry a stranger, so he decided to ignore it once more.

At least until his other mother's voice could be heard through the door; "Bill! Open this door this instant! There are over 20 suitors for you here, and you will hear them out!"

Bill just mimicked his mother's voice under the covers, refusing to open the door; what was she going to do anyway, break it down?

"Open the door this instant or I swear I will have the guards break it down!" Elena yelled angrily.

Oh, well that was bad. For a moment he considered opening the door, but his mother was probably just bluffing anyway, and he didn't really feel very threatened, so he remained unmoving.

A few minutes passed in silence, and Bill was almost feeling triumphant that his mother had given up, when sudden a loud bang shook his entire room. Horrified, Bill sat upright, staring around just as the next one hit his door with such force that it nearly burst open.

Was his mother seriously breaking down his door?!

"Hey wait!" Bill yelled horrified, stumbling out of bed; "Leave my door alone!"

But before he managed to salvage the situation, the door's hinges came undone and it burst open, nearly knocking the prince over.

"AH! What are you doing?! Are you crazy?!" Bill screamed, staring in horror at his broken door; there went the little privacy he had.

"The tailor is here for you to get dressed," queen Elena said coldly, stepping over the burst door and indicating at the tailor who stood behind her, looking a bit pale.

"Ugh! You destroyed my door!" Bill yelled at his mother, ignoring the tailor and his assistant, Andreas and two other servants who were in the room.

"I warned you. I've had enough of your impossible behavior, Bill! That will stop today! You will get dressed and tend to all our guests. You will greet each and every suitor, and then you will choose one and marry them!" she finished angrily, leaving in the same fashion she had come in.

Bill blinked a few times, slightly surprised that his mother was suddenly so consequent; usually she never went through with her threats... Oh well, whatever.

Despondently, Bill let himself be dressed, fuming at his mother for having broken down his door; how dare she. He would show her.

~*~

"Stop being so paranoid, Gusti!" Tom growled at his squire who was ducking at the slightest of sounds.

"We are on enemy grounds, Sire. It is in our best interest to be cautious," Gustav whispered, peeking around a corner.

"We have an invitation," Georg waved the scroll in front of Gustav's face.

"Nonetheless we must be wary. Our people have been at war for over 200 years," Gustav reminded them sourly.

"We yell dirty words at each other across a lake... I don't think that can be considered war," Tom laughed quietly; "And where are we anyway? Gustav you got us lost. I really don't think the royal hall is around here anywhere," he added quietly, looking up and down the hall they were sneaking through.

"I'm terribly sorry, your majesty, but I'm afraid it's my first time breaking into the enemies castle," Gustav hissed back.

"We walked in through the front gates that were open, Gusti," Georg pointed out.

"Shh!" Tom clapped his hand over Gustav's mouth which was about to argue with Georg because a door at the end of the hall suddenly banged open, revealing his beloved prince who looked somewhat unnerved.

"There he is!" Tom whispered excitedly, hiding behind one of the large, stone pillars together with his squires.

"Out of my way, you useless pack of rodents!" Prince Bill snarled angrily at the servants who were still trying to fix his clothes.

Georg and Gustav exchanged a look; "Oh yeah, he's lovely..." Georg whispered.

"Very," Gustav agreed in shock.

"He's just a bit stressed. How would you feel if you were forced to marry a perfect stranger?" Tom defended the love of his life whom he was sure was just having a bad day.

"Ah!" Prince Bill suddenly shrieked after taking another step; "Who the hell just stepped on my robe?!" he demanded angrily, turning back at the few men behind him who all took a step back.

"It was an accident, my Prince, it won't happen again," one of the men stuttered in fear.

"Damn right it won't. Andreas!" the Prince snarled; "Kick that useless vermin out and get me a new robe. I must change immediately!"

"But your highness, the suitors are all waiting already," Andreas said urgently.

"So let them wait!" And with that, Prince Bill turned around and stormed back up into the tower.

Once everyone was gone and they were left alone in the hall again, Georg and Gustav both looked at him with despondent expressions; "Maybe we should just go home," Georg said slowly and Gustav nodded.

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm sure deep down he's a great man," Tom shook his head in determination, convinced that his Prince was just a bit stressed due to his upcoming wedding.

"Very deep down," Gustav mumbled under his breath.

Tom sighed inwardly, hoping his friends were wrong about Prince Bill. It wasn't possible that someone so lovely and beautiful was actually so nasty, right?  
No, of course not. Bill was just having a bad day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everyone ^^ sorry this story isnt being updated as fast as the others, but its new and i dont have any more chapters yet... I'm working on it.

It wasn’t long before Tom found his way into the royal hall that was already filled with royalty from all corners of the land, all waiting for Prince Bill to change into a new robe.

“Well, where is he?” complained a young prince clad in blue gowns; “I shall not be made to wait!” he said loudly, earning various nods and murmured of agreement from all around the hall.

“In which case you are discharged, for the person who shall marry me will have to endure such waits a lot,” Prince Bill loudly announced his entrance.

“What an impertinence!” the Prince said outraged while Prince Bill laughed as he sat down on the throne next to his mothers.

“A joke! Of course!” Queen Arabella laughed, though Tom wasn’t entirely convinced the Prince had been kidding.

“It’s not too late yet, your Majesty, we can still leave unharmed,” Gustav whispered urgently but Tom just shushed him.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Get on with it!” Prince Bill sighed languidly with a lazy hand movement.

“Right then,” the herald mumbled quickly, announcing the first prince in line; “His highness Prince Ethelbert of Galrein. Lord over the eastern fir woods and carrier of the scarlet shield!”

“Your highness,” the prince and his gift bearers bowed before the queens and their son; “I have heard of your charm throughout the lands, though I feel they have not done you justice, for no words in the world can describe your beauty.”

“Which flattering words you give me,” Prince Bill smiled sweetly; “You too, are easy on the eyes. Come, turn around so I may admire you from all sides.”

Prince Ethelbert smiled happily, slowly turning around so Bill could look at him; “Good boy! Now roll over!” Bill laughed; “Like a little dog you are! Doing everything I say. Be gone!”

“But-” Prince Ethelbert stuttered and various people in the crowd whispered.

“Woof woof! Grrrr!” Bill laughed, making barking sounds at him while the crowd murmured in outrage.

Prince Ethelbert gave Bill an outraged look before storming away while Bill waved at him with a sweet smile.

Tom heard Georg groaning quietly as the herald announced the next suitor.

“Her highness Princess Hildred of Lanson. Lady of the purple rose and mistress of the deer!”

“For you, my prince,” the princess bowed, indicating at the velvet jewelry case one of her maids carried; “The most beautiful, for the most beautiful,” she smiled softly.

Prince Bill gasped quietly, leaning a bit forward in his throne to take a closer look at the silver necklace with the emerald stones; “Am I dreaming or is this real?” he asked in astonishment; “Is the most perfect maiden I ever saw, offering me the most perfect gift I ever saw? And with the most perfectly chosen words?”

“No my dear, it’s all real!” Queen Arabella said quickly, beaming down at Princess Hildred.

“Oh how sad. Perfection bores me,” Prince Bill sat back in his thrown, yawning heartedly and waving her away with a dismissive hand movement.

Princess Hildred gasped softly, striding away with her head held high.

“My king,” Georg whispered quietly as the princess stormed past them; “Are you sure you want to do this to yourself?”

“That won’t happen to me,” Tom whispered back; “He’s the love of my life. We’re destined to be together… He must feel it, too!” he insisted, unable to believe that his prince would reject him so cruelly.

“Wait for me by the horses. This is something I must do on my own,” Tom said quietly, dismissing his squires; even though he didn’t think Prince Bill would reject him, he really didn’t need the Gs to hold his hand right now.

~*~

“That’s enough, Bill!” his mother Elena whispered angrily.

“Then stop this ridiculous nonsense and leave me alone!” Bill hissed back.

“Too late for that now,” she said angrily.

“Oh yeah?” Bill shot back, getting up from his throne; he could end this very quickly.

“Wait!” Arabella whispered desperately but Bill ignored her, walking down to the suitors to examine them closely.

He looked up and down the first prince, passing his judgement; “Tall and thin… He looks way too grim,” he smiled coldly, moving on to the next princess; “Short and fat… I would never touch that,” he gave her a disgusted look before moving on and gasping; “Way too pale! He looks totally frail,” Bill scoffed in amusement while the outraged murmurs became louder.

He walked through the row of suitors, giving each one a personal insult before finally pausing at the last princess who gave him a fearful look; “And let me guess,” he said sweetly; “You’re really smart, right?” he ridiculed her with a satisfied grin.

The princess turned around and ran out of the hall, sobbing, but Bill’s attention was already elsewhere - with someone he’d missed. A man standing behind the line of suitors unaccompanied by any gift bearers; was he even a suitor…?

“Do you have such a terrible body stench that you’re afraid I’ll run away, or what are you hiding back there?” Bill laughed in what he hoped was a casual way; he was a bit caught off guard by the handsome stranger who looked so different than all the elegantly dressed royals. He wore simple, yet elegant robes that looked far too casual for someone who was asking for his hand in marriage. But it suited him quite well – with the slightly long, messy hair that hung over his shoulder and his overall rather roughish appearance. It was definitely a change from the rest of the crowd.

“I would never hide anything from you, my prince,” he said gently, pushing himself off the wall and stretching his hand out to him.

Bill’s stomach did a small backflip as he saw the gift in the man’s hand; it wasn’t made of gold or diamonds, or anything else that may be worth something to someone else, but to him it was more precious than all other gifts he had seen today.

However just as Bill was about to stretch his hand out to accept the gift, and with it, the marriage proposal, his mother’s shrill voice interrupted him; “Your Majesty!” she called in delight, almost running down the hall towards them.

“Bill my darling, this is King Thomas of Begonia,” she beamed up at the man; “Your Majesty, what an honor to welcome you here,” she bowed deeply, and the king returned the greeting.

Bill’s earlier thrill was completely gone and he was overtaken with cold resent towards his mothers; of course it was the king of Begonia – who else?! How dare they try to set him up with him just to settle their pathetic lake problems. Bill began to boil on the inside; no way in hell would he ever marry that man, no matter how much he may have liked him at first sight.

“Bill!” his mother whispered excitedly; “A peace offering!”

The king bowed before him, but Bill couldn’t even look at him anymore because he was completely blinded by anger at his parents.

“Even worse than an obeying dog is one who begs for peace,” he laughed coldly.

“Sweetheart! You’re speaking to a king,” his mother whispered urgently.

“Hah!” Bill barked a cold laugh; “A king with a beard that looks like a thrush’s beak! We should call him King Thrushbeard!” he mocked acidly, receiving another round of loud murmurs and whispers from the other guests.

“What kind of a queen are you?” a princess turned to Queen Elena; “Letting your own son mock everyone in the land, including you!” she said in outrage, brushing past them and marching through the gates.

Bill laughed coldly; “Bye-bye!” he waved gleefully after her while the other guests voiced their outrage.

“That’s enough!” Queen Elena yelled over the loud commotion, immediately silencing the entire hall, including Bill; “This is going to end right now, Bill!” she said angrily; “Let god and all of you be my witness! You will marry the next best beggar that comes to the palace asking for scrapes of food! And that shall be the end of it!”

And with that, Queen Elena stomped out of the hall, leaving a flabbergasted Bill and various sniggering guests behind. Bill looked around in horror at all the people staring at him; how dare his mother humiliate him in front of their entire country like this.  
Without another word, Bill stormed away to his tower with the intention to lock himself in, only to remember that his door was broken.

Today was officially the worst day of his entire life.

~*~

Tom watched the young prince running away, and despite all the cruelties he had said, he still felt sorry for him.

As he slowly made his out of the palace together with all the other rejected suitors, he heard various people whispering that awful nickname; hopefully it would be forgotten soon.

“Hey King Thrushbeard,” Georg said sympathetically once he arrived at their horses; Gustav smacked him over the read.

“So you heard, huh?” Tom sighed heavily, burying his face in his horse’s mane.

“Spreads faster than fire,” Georg nodded; “What happened in there?” he asked concerned.

“You were right… He’s awful,” Tom mumbled dejectedly; “Let’s just go home.”

 

Unfortunately, the nickname did indeed spread like wildfire and less than a week later, the entire kingdom was laughing about it. Tom couldn’t believe it had come to this; how could Prince Bill do this to him? Completely putting aside the ridicule and humiliation, Tom was completely heartbroken; for the first time had he felt as if he truly belonged with someone, and that someone had turned his entire life into a living hell. He barely dared to leave the safety of his palace anymore because no matter where he went, he heard that name being whispered.

“My King?” Georg’s quiet voice brought Tom out of his thoughts and he looked up from the book he hadn’t even been reading.

“There are various royal duties you haven’t attended to lately, your Majesty” Gustav said politely, always getting right down to business.

“What Gusti is trying to say is that we’re all worried about you. Perhaps we should go outside for a bit to take your mind off things. Ride down to the lake perhaps?” Georg suggested.

Tom groaned; “The lake…” That’s where he’d first seen Bill…

“Come now, my King, you can’t let some arrogant little dweeb ruin your entire life! Look on the bright side, perhaps his parents already married him off to some beggar and he got what he deserved!” Georg laughed, trying to cheer him up.

Tom gave him a sideways look; “You really think they would do that?”

“Of course not,” Gustav shook his head.

“But the little bastard would totally deserve it,” Georg chuckled.

“Queen Elena said she would make him marry the first beggar who showed up…” Tom remembered; “Isn’t she usually a woman of her word?”

“I don’t believe that those kinds of words count, your Majesty,” Gustav shook his head; “No queen would ever make her only son marry a beggar – that’s ridiculous.”

“But it would be really funny,” Georg was still laughing randomly.

“What if she really would?” Tom said thoughtfully.

“Then he’d get a taste of his own medicine and we could all live happily ever after,” Georg said brightly while Gustav rolled his eyes.

Tom stared down at his book, the crazy idea slowly forming in his head; “Call the barber. I need a shave,” he made up his mind, closing the book and getting up.

“What?” Georg and Gustav asked in unison.

“And then go out and get me the oldest, dirtiest rags you can find,” he instructed his squires.

“Y-your Majesty, what are you planning?” Gustav asked with wide eyes, obviously suspecting already.

“I’m going to find out if Queen Elena is true to her word,” Tom smiled slowly, his mind flooded with a million plans of how to get that damned prince who’d been driving him crazy ever since the moment he laid eyes on him.

“But your Majesty! You can’t do something like that!” Gustav said in outrage while Georg was looking utterly excited and amused.

“I’m the king, I think I’m allowed to dress up like a beggar if I want to,” he grinned.

“Yes, let’s do it!” Georg nodded excitedly while Gustav looked absolutely horrified.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that took so long... I've been really busy. Please enjoy!

"Your Majesty, I strongly have to disagree. If someone finds out, King Thrushbeard will be your preferred nickname. Something like that is social suicide!" Gustav shook his head vehemently.

"My social life is already dead, Gusti. It really doesn't matter at this point. And besides... if she's true to her word, I will finally get Bill," Tom smiled, satisfied that he had come up with this insane, yet brilliant plan to marry the love of his life.

"Ok wait..." Georg paused; "So... you're going to dress up like a beggar, marry Prince Bill, and then what?"

"And then..." Tom hadn't really thought that far ahead.

"And then you will dump him. Reject him. Throw him out on the street and leave him used and unwanted so no one will ever want him again," Gustav said darkly.

Georg and Tom exchanged a freaked out look; "Um... yeah," Georg said slowly; "Maybe not exactly like that, but kinda. That is your intention, right? You do intend to pay him back for what he did to you, right? You want to destroy his arrogance and break him, right?!"

"No!" Tom gave his psychotic-looking friend a horrified look; "I don't want to break him – I love him!"

"So we're not destroying him then?" Gustav asked a bit disappointed.

"No! Guys! You didn't get what I'm trying to say... I don't want to pay him back for what he did to me... I want to be with him," Tom tried to explain himself to his friends who obviously still really hated the neighboring prince.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Georg asked, frowning a bit.

"It means I want to marry him and be with him..." Tom nodded, determined.

His squires exchanged a dubious look; "Um... Tom, buddy... You need a doctor," Georg said dully; "That man is a nightmare. He will make your life a living hell. Believe me, you don't want to have anything to do with him."

"Maybe he'll change once we're married," Tom shrugged.

"Uh-huh, yeah... of course he will," Gustav sighed, shaking his head; "Your Majesty... Don't take this the wrong way but you're crazy. We cannot possibly let you do something so wrong."

Georg just nodded; "For once, I agree with Gusti here."

"No guys, you don't get it. I really want to be with him. And I am going to do this, with or without your help," Tom said determined.

Georg sighed and rubbed his face with his hands; "Alright... let's take a step back to where we were before. So you'll dress up as a beggar, marry him, and then what?"

"And then... I don't know, and then I'll tell him who I am and move in here with him."

"Oh please spare us," Gustav mumbled and Georg burst out laughing.

"Yeah, no offence my King, but your prince is a total dick... Do you really have to bring him here?"

Tom blinked at his friend, knowing that he was right; as crazy as he was about Bill, that guy was a nightmare. He just looked like an absolute dream.

"Well what else am I supposed to do, move in with him? But this is my kingdom here..." Tom mused slowly.

"Or you could just lock him in a cottage in the words and wait until he turns nice," Gustav grumbled moodily.

"Hey that's actually a good idea," Georg agreed.

"What?! No!" Tom said outraged.

"No wait, hear me out," Georg put his hand up to interrupt Tom; "You just pretend to be a beggar for a little while longer, and let him get used to living like... well... a beggar. You could stay in that old cottage close to the lake. Let him live there, work a little bit, and show him that there are people in the world who actually have to work for a living."

"But I'm a king... I haven't worked a day in my life," Tom pointed out slowly.

"That doesn't matter," Gustav shook his head, apparently getting into the idea; "We will help you and teach you everything you need to know. You can pretend to work during the day, come back here, have a good meal and bath, while he can stay there... not having those things. And in the evening you go back there with a bit of food you supposedly bought from the market, etc. It's brilliant I say! Brilliant!" Gustav finished in excitement while Tom and Georg stared at him in astonishment; Gustav was all for the rules and etiquette – when had he suddenly become so... different?

"Wait a minute. Are you saying I should sleep down in that old cottage? On the ground?" Tom asked slowly, not sure if he was comfortable with that.

"Oh don't be such a pussy," Gustav said dismissively, earning himself a shocked look from Georg and Tom before apparently realizing what he had said; "I-I meant... Your Majesty," he mumbled sheepishly.

"Yeah your Majesty, don't be such a pussy," Georg sniggered and Gustav glared at him.

"Riight... So I have to sleep on the ground?" Tom picked up at his earlier worries again.

"We can put a bed there. Of course not one like yours, my King, but a bed for... peasants," Georg grinned. Somehow Tom had the feeling his squires were enjoying this just a tad too much.

"Alright... I trust you guys will organize all this? And keep it a secret?" Tom smiled, pleased that his friends had agreed to go along with this ridiculous plan that probably wouldn't work, but he was optimistic.

"Of course, Sire," Gustav said politely, all back to his normal self.

"As always, my King," Georg grinned cheerfully, and they both left to get started.

With a shaky sigh, Tom dropped down in his bed with the silken sheets; yeah, he was really going to miss this bed. But Bill was so worth sleeping on the ground.

~*~

Bill sighed quietly, staring out the window of his tower. Ever since that damned day, his mother had been so strict with him he barely dared to leave his room; of course he knew why – the entire land was talking about how unruly he was and how he had treated his suitors, but that was his mothers' fault! They should have known better than to try and marry him off to one of those stupid suitors.

Angrily, Bill got up from the chair and stalked over to sit on the windowsill, holding the waterlily that King Thomas had brought for him and dropped in the royal hall; it was already dried up and slightly squished because someone had stepped on it, but Bill loved it anyway. How had he known that it was his favorite flower...? Or maybe he hadn't, and he'd just brought it because it was Begonia's blazonry. But then why hadn't he brought anything other than that...?

Somewhere really deep down, Bill fantasized that he hadn't brought it because of the meaning it held for Begonia, but for the meaning it held for him, even if there was no way King Thomas could have ever known about that.

A soft music pulled him out of his reverie and he leaned a bit out the window to see where it was coming from. Strolling through the palace yard was a poorly dressed minstrel who played the lute so beautifully that Bill forgave his terrible appearance; Bill loved music above all else, so at this rare occasion he couldn't be bothered by anything else, and even forgot his troubles for a short while as he listened to the minstrel's play.  
Perhaps he should ask his mother to invite him in; it had been a long time since he'd heard anyone playing so lovely, if ever at all.

Hurrying to make sure the minstrel didn't move on, Bill rushed downstairs. However as he got there, his mothers were already waiting for him.

"Bill dearest, I'm glad you came down. David! Fetch the priest!" Elena ordered their butler.

"Wait what?" Bill asked in confusion, watching as David disappeared.

"Come with me, Bill. We have found your future husband," his mother said strictly, walking down the hall towards the lobby.

"W-what?" Bill stuttered, feeling his blood begin to run cold.

By the time they finally arrived at the palace entrance gates, Bill could hardly breathe from shock, and he nearly passed out as his mother indicated at the lump of dirty clothes that held the lute.

The minstrel bowed deeply before speaking; "Your Majesty, how may I be of service?"

"I'm a woman of my word, and you are the first beggar to come to the palace so you shall have my son's hand in marriage," Elena declared firmly.

Bill stuttered out a laugh; "You're joking, mother."

"Not at all. Follow me down to the chapel," she ordered.

"What?!" Bill shrieked horrified; "Mother!"

"But your Majesty," the minstrel suddenly interrupted; "What am I to do with your son? He's a prince - I am but a humble minstrel."

"E-exactly!" Bill nodded.

"You may do anything you want with him," the queen shrugged.

"But he has no talents that I require. He's obviously not very strong and completely inept in every aspect of life," the minstrel objected.

"Excuse me?!" Bill all but screamed; "How dare you speak to me that way, you sordid raff! Mother! I demand that you banish him from the kingdom immediately!"

"I shall, sweetheart, but first you will marry him," the queen said coldly, heading outside.

"What?!" Bill yelled, running after his mother; "You can't do this to me!"

"I've had enough of you and your spoiled ways! I warned you countless times but you chose not to listen to me. You will marry this man. Right now! Priest!" she screeched as she stalked towards the palace chapel where David was waiting with the priest.

Bill was about to be sick as he entered the chapel; his mother had to be joking; "Alright alright, I got it. I will be better from now on, I promise. You can stop with this ridiculous joke now," Bill begged his mother but she just gave him a cold look.

"This isn't a joke Bill. None of this ever has been, you just always viewed it as one," she said coldly.

"But mother... you can't make me marry him. Look at him!" he whispered urgently.

"I am, and I think he's exactly what you deserve," the queen gave him a hard look before nodding at the priest to begin with the ceremony that wasn't really a ceremony at all.

Even though he heard the priest speaking the usual words, they made no sense to him or held any meaning because he was unable to concentrate on anything that was happening. It was only by the time that the dirty minstrel slid a ring on his finger that the situation slowly began to dawn on him; this was all real. He had just gotten married to a beggar.

"Are you happy now?" he whispered angrily at his mother; "I'm tired, I'm going to bed, and god help anyone who bothers me," he snarled angrily, sending a dangerous glare at his... he couldn't even think the word.

"I'm afraid the palace is reserved for royalty, and the common folk have no place here. You and your husband may now leave," Elena said strictly, nodding towards the door.

"What?" Bill whispered horrified; surely she was joking. She had to be.

"I wish you and your husband a long and happy marriage. Good evening." And with that, the queen returned to the palace, leaving Bill rooted on the spot, barely able to breathe.

"We should leave. It's a long walk back home," the minstrel said lowly and gave him a rough push towards the chapel doors.

Bill stumbled along, stalking behind the man who just ruined his life, still unable to comprehend what had just happened to him.  
They walked down the stone road that led away from the palace while everyone on the street whispered and pointed at him; he wished he would just fall over dead right now. This was the worst humiliation of his entire life; how could this be happening?!

Eventually the road led out of the kingdom and into the forest.

"How far is this slum of yours?" Bill asked after what seemed like an eternity; his feet hurt and he was cold and hungry.

"Still a while. You'll get used to walking," the minstrel replied calmly.

Bill groaned mentally; if he'd have a sword and more guts, he would have slaughtered this disgusting excuse for a human on the spot.

It was already beginning to get dark by the time they reached a beautiful oak forest. Bill was beginning to get bored and he was miserable, so he tried to make the best out of the situation; perhaps talking would make him feel better.

"This forest is beautiful," he commented randomly, not knowing what else to say.

"It belongs to King Thrushbeard. Had you married him, it would be yours," the minstrel answered.

Bill nearly groaned; it had to be King Thomas'. He well knew that people had ridiculed the poor king thanks to what he had said to him, and he actually felt somewhat bad about it, especially because he had quite liked him. Particularly because of that very special gift. Why hadn't he just married him?! Then he wouldn't be here right now, married to a damned beggar! No, he would be the owner of this forest instead. And an entire kingdom...

"How far is it still?" Bill complained again after another while of walking; he could barely feel his feet at this point.

"Just behind those hills," the minstrel pointed ahead of them into a beautiful valley.

"These meadows are amazing. Who do they belong to?" Bill asked, hoping against hope that they had left the kingdom of Begonia already.

"King Thrushbeard. Had you married him, they would be yours," the minstrel replied in the same fashion as before, and it took all of Bill's strength not to scream at him for it.

"Do you live in Begonia then?" Bill asked sourly.

"Yes, we live in Begonia," he replied calmly; Bill still had the urge to hit him.

"Here we are," the minstrel finally announced by the time the sun was almost set.

In the semi darkness, Bill spotted a tiny wooden cottage; "What the hell is that?" he asked in confusion.

"This is where we live," the man replied.

Bill laughed out loud; "Yeah right. Seriously, take me home. I'm tired and hungry."

"This is your new home," the minstrel said in his ever calm voice as he walked towards the house and opened the door for him.

"Fine. Whatever. I'm starving. Tell one of your servants to make me something to eat," he demanded as he entered the tiny cottage in which the minstrel was lighting an oil lamp.

"We don't have any servants, but there's some bread on the shelf there – help yourself," the man pointed towards a shelf in the miniscule kitchen area before he began to put his bag and lute away.

"What do you mean we have no servants?!" Bill asked in disbelief; "Who's going to cook and clean this dump?!"

"You are. You can start tomorrow," the man nodded and lay down on what Bill assumed was supposed to be something like a bed; "It's late, we should get some rest."

"Where the hell do I sleep?" Bill snapped angrily.

The man scooted a little closer to the wall, making space for him on the straw bed.

"Keep dreaming!" he shrieked in outrage, sitting down on the small wooden bench by the table; "And don't you dare lay your filthy paws on me!" It was only by now that Bill realized what being married to this man actually meant. Was he supposed to... follow his marital obligations? No way. The mere thought made Bill gag with disgust.

The minstrel shrugged, turning off the oil lamp and leaving the cottage in complete darkness aside from the moon that shone in through the small window.

Bill swallowed back tears as he sat in the cold, dark room, still incapable of understanding how this had happened to him. This had to be some kind of horrible nightmare. Surely he would wake up soon, safe and sound back in his cozy, warm bed in the palace where servants would wash him and bring him breakfast.

~*~

Tom sighed quietly when he heard the prince shifting around restlessly on the bench; maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all. What the hell had he been thinking?!


	5. Chapter 5

An odd scraping sound pulled Bill from his uncomfortable sleep. Lazily he opened his eyes and blinked into the early morning sun that shone into the... cottage. Bill groaned loudly, sitting up and looking around for the weird sound.

"AH! What the hell is that?!" Bill screamed hysterically, jumping up from the bench so fast he landed on the floor next to the goat that had been rubbing its head against the table leg.

"Hey you! Peasant! There's a goat in here!" Bill yelled at the minstrel who poked his head in through the window to see what was going on.

"Well bring it outside and milk it," the man shrugged before disappearing again.

"What?" Bill sputtered in disbelief, dashing to the window; "You expect me touch that obscene animal's.... thingies?!"

The man didn't look up from his wood chopping; "They're called udders. And yes, I expect you to do that, so get on with it," he ordered darkly.

Bill gasped; "How dare you talk to me that way, you scoundrel! I am the prince of Geraneia, and you will not talk to me like that!"

"Actually you're not anymore," the man replied calmly; "Now please milk the goat, Bill."

Bill nearly passed out from shock - no one dared to call him simply by his name except his parents; "Milk it yourself, you filthy hick!" he snarled angrily, pulling his head back into the cottage and glaring at the goat; "Disgusting animal," he sneered and sat down at the table since there was nowhere else to sit; he would remain seated here for the rest of eternity if it had to be because there was no way he would do manual labor like a common peasant.

~*~

Tom groaned quietly, staring down at the wood he was trying to chop; this was the worst job ever. It was so exhausting and difficult... 'God am I glad I'm king and only doing this for the heck of it...' Actually he was doing it for that arrogant brat who couldn't even milk a goat. Not that Tom had ever milked a goat before, but at least he was willing to try it.

"Get out!" Bill screamed hysterically, chasing the poor goat out of the house with a broom.

The goat bleated loudly, and Tom knew it was because it wanted to be milked; Georg and Gustav had informed him about all the things that needed to be done around here, and milking the goat was one of them. Great... Now he had to milk the goat because Prince Bill was refusing to do so.

Except Tom had no idea how to milk goats. Sure he knew the theory, Gustav had told him, but he'd never done it before. 'And then I would have to touch its thingies...' he thought and scrunched up his nose. No way, he would just wait until... later. Either until Bill did it, or until he manned up and did it himself.

Maybe he should pass his goat knowledge on to Bill, just in case he stepped down from his high horse and chose to do it.

"Bill," Tom said firmly as he entered the cottage; Prince Bill was sitting at the table, arms and legs crossed and glaring daggers in his direction.

"What?" he snapped in annoyance.

"I'm going to the city to work – I will be back in the evening, so you-"

"What?" the prince screeched; "You're leaving?! What the hell am I supposed to do here all day? And who's going to make me food? I'm starving! And someone shut that stupid goat up, it's driving me insane!" he snarled angrily.

"There are plenty of vegetables in the garden so you can cook something. And the goat will be silent as soon as you milk it so-" Tom tried calmly but the prince interrupted him again.

"I already told you! I'm not milking that disgusting beast!" Bill spat coldly.

Tom decided to ignore him and just carried on talking; "Just take a handful of oats from the basket outside," he pointed towards the window, "and while the goat is eating them, you can milk her. First you carefully wash her teats with a wet cloth, and then you take this bucket here," he grabbed the milk bucket, holding it up for the prince to see, "and milk her. Easy," he finished with a shrug, hoping he hadn't forgotten anything.

"The hell I will," Bill scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"I will see you for dinner then," Tom nodded, grabbing his lute and heading outside; he couldn't wait to get home and grab some decent food – not to mention get away from Bill's nagging.

"Whatever," the prince grumbled as Tom exited the cottage to walk to the city.

~*~

A while after the minstrel had left, Bill peeked out the other window that was directed towards the front of the house; the beggar was a few hundred feet up the road already and soon disappeared into the forest.

With a heavy sigh, Bill sat back down, looking around the dirty cottage and trying to ignore the damned goat that was still bleating as if its life depended on it; "Shut up stupid goat," Bill mumbled darkly.

~*~

"My king! How did it go?" Gustav rushed towards him in the clearing where they had agreed to meet so Tom could change clothes and return to his life as king without anyone knowing what he was up to.

"It was awful," Tom whined indignantly; Georg patted his shoulder sympathetically.

"What happened?"

"Well... we're married," he said drily, holding up his hand with the ring that chained him to one of the worst people he had ever met; "And he's a total nightmare. I don't think this is going to work," Tom regretted sadly.

"Come now, Sire, don't be discouraged. We knew the boy was a load of work. We just need to be patient – he'll come around," Gustav nodded wisely.

"What if he doesn't?" Tom sighed, beginning to change back into his usual attire.

"Then we can always leave him in the forest – the wolves need food too, after all," Gustav said matter-of-factly.

Tom and Georg gave him a disturbed look; "Yeah, what he said," Georg chuckled; "It'll be fine, I'm sure. It just takes some time."

"Yeah," Tom sighed, almost dressed; "But seriously, why did you guys give us a goat?!"

Gustav fixed his glasses, the way he always did when he explained someone something very simple; "Because most peasants have goats. They give fresh milk every day, and since most commoners can't afford anything other than vegetables, they keep goats."

"Right, I totally knew that," Tom mumbled sheepishly, stuffing his dirty clothes into a bag and hanging it on the tree; he would leave all his peasant stuff here during the day, and come back for them in the evening. But first he would go home, take a bath and have a huge, delicious meal, and then do whatever was on his agenda; perhaps catching up on some of his royal duties was a wise idea.

"The ring, Sire," Gustav reminded when Tom was about to get on the horse that his squires had brought for him.

"Oh right," Tom nodded, removing the simple, silver ring from his finger and putting it into his pocket; it probably wouldn't go so well if his parents found out he'd gotten married yesterday.

Tom could barely believe it himself; he'd actually gotten married. To the only person he'd ever fallen in love with, and that person was a horrible brute. He still wasn't sure if he considered it to be a really brilliant or really stupid idea.

~*~

As the afternoon slowly rolled around, Bill was so hungry he couldn't stand it anymore and got up to search for some food.  
On the shelf that the minstrel had indicated to yesterday, he found a loaf of dry bread from which he broke a piece off and nibbled on it. It was definitely the worst thing he had ever eaten, but by now he was so hungry he barely cared.

Once his worst hunger was over, he slowly peeked outside through the door, just to make sure there was no one around, and then went out into the yard that hosted a generous vegetable patch which was surrounded by a simple wooden fence, probably designed to keep the goat out that still wouldn't hold its tongue.

"If you don't shut up, I'm going to hit you!" Bill yelled, but the goat just stared at him, bleating even louder.

Angrily, Bill stalked towards the goat, glaring furiously at the loud animal that was killing the few nerves he still had left. Of course now that he was actually standing in front of the goat, he didn't manage to hit it at all because he felt really bad; it wasn't the goat's fault that it was just a dumb animal. The goat stalked a bit towards him, wagging it's mini tail and bleating loudly, as if expecting him to do something; he remembered the minstrel saying something about milking but... 'No way, why am I even considering it?! Absolutely not!' Bill decided firmly, walking back into the cottage and slamming the door.

With a loud groan, he sat down on the minstrel's straw bed and looked around the tiny cottage; everything was dirty and a total mess – obviously his... husband didn't bother to do much around here; it didn't even look as if he spent a lot of time here. Bill really didn't like messy places because he was very neat and orderly; of course at home he had servants who made sure his rooms were always clean and neat, but here... here it looked as if a tornado had gone through the cottage. Maybe he should clean up just a tiny bit, for his own sake. It might also give him something to do because it had been a few hours since the minstrel had left and Bill was beginning to lose his mind from boredom.

With another peek out the window just to make sure the beggar wasn't coming back yet, Bill slowly began picking up random objects from the floor – pots, clothes, an old shoe that didn't seem to have a pair anymore, and to his great surprise, even a book; so the minstrel knew how to read? Probably not. He probably just had it to make a fire with it – Bill snorted, giving the book a suspicious look. It was a poetry book. Yeah, the beggar definitely had it for burning purposes – Bill really wouldn't believe that a lowlife such as that minstrel would read such good books. However it did give him something to do for the rest of the day, and he forgot all about the ridiculousness of cleaning again.

At least until the evening when it began getting too dark inside to read, at which point he spent almost 20 minutes trying to light a fire. He'd seen his servants doing this really often and it looked so easy when they did it, but now that he had to do it, it was nearly impossible and kept going out all the time, not to mention the entire cottage was filled with smoke already so he had to open the windows and door.

~*~

Tom sighed as he changed back into his dirty rags, bidding farewell to his squires whom he missed already, knowing he had to return to that awful husband of his who would most likely nag and glare at him until he went to sleep. Which would most likely be right away because he couldn't stand being in the same room as the prince.

With the small bag and his lute slung over his shoulder, he walked back half the mile from where the Gs had dropped him, back to the cottage, anxious to see what Bill had done all day. Was he even still there? Had he ran away home? Had he killed the poor goat? Burned the cottage down?! Tom stared ahead in horror from where he saw smoke rising, and broke into a run.

By the time he finally approached the clearing that housed their cottage, he was a nervous wreck from all the horror scenarios playing out in his head about everything that could have happened to Bill during that day, however as the cottage came into sight, it looked perfectly normal. The smoke was rising from the chimney and nothing looked out of place. Tom nearly fainted from relief, and his emotions immediately went from worry to confused; had Bill seriously made a fire...? All on his own? Without burning the house down? The goat was still alive too.

As he entered the yard, he saw the bleating goat nibbling on a few blades of grass; obviously Bill hadn't milked her. Tom groaned in exasperation, exchanging looks with the loud goat who gave him a very expectant look.

"I'll be right back, I'll just check on Bill, ok?" Tom promised the goat as he went inside to see what his beloved jerk was up to.

Prince Bill was sitting on the bed, feet tucked underneath him, reading the only book Tom had taken with him; did he also enjoy poetry just like Tom did? Bill seemed like such an uncouth person, despite being a prince, so Tom was rather surprised that he would enjoy something more refined than bitching at servants.

"About time you're back. That goat is driving me crazy. Do something," Bill ordered coldly, not even looking up from his book.

With a defeated sigh, Tom placed his things by the door, grabbed the milk bucket and a wet cloth, and headed back outside to check out this whole milking issue.

~*~

Carefully, Bill peeked up from his book as the man gathered a bucket and a cloth and went back outside without a word. He felt very triumphant as the man didn't object him; finally that dumb beggar was accepting that Bill had no intention to be his servant and wouldn't be doing squat around here.  
Through the window he watched as the man grabbed a handful of grain that he gave the goat, cleaned its thingies and then sat down on the old tree stump to milk it. In the semi darkness he couldn't really see much of what the man was doing, but at least now the stupid goat was milked and Bill didn't have to be the one doing it. Not to mention it was finally quiet. 'Heavenly,' Bill sighed softly, enjoying the silence.

It wasn't long before the man came back inside with half a bucket of milk, and Bill ignored him right away, staring down at his book on which he couldn't concentrate right now. The man rummaged around for a few minutes during which Bill refused to look at him; he always refused to look at him because looking at beggars was simply something he didn't do, so he had only taken a few peeks at him from afar while the man wasn't looking back at him. Though now that he thought about it, maybe he should take a look at the minstrels face at some point – they were... married, after all.  
But just as Bill was about to lift his gaze to look at the man's face, this one approached and suddenly lay down next to him without warning.

Bill jumped towards the wall with a screech as the man's clothes brushed his legs; "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Going to sleep, goodnight," the minstrel replied tiredly, his back turned to Bill.

Bill considered giving him a hefty kick to remove him from the bed, but then decided against it; he didn't know this man after all, and who knew what he might really be like? He might be violent when angry or something... It wasn't hard for Bill to see that in a physical fight he would lose against him any day, so making him angry was probably not a good idea.

Given the circumstances, the minstrel had actually been very civil with him, not actually demanding anything from him, and Bill really didn't want to give him a reason to change that obliging behavior. With a shaky sigh, he placed the book at the bottom of the bed, lying down as quietly as possible next to the man who didn't smell as bad as Bill had expected him to. He pressed himself against the wall, trying to stay away as far as possible from the other man, and tensing every time the man made a tiny movement; he was half expecting the minstrel to suddenly demand Bill follow his marital duties tonight, and he was horrifyingly aware that if such a thing should happen, he had nowhere to run and no one who would recuse him from it.

However no such thing happened, and soon enough the minstrel was breathing deeply and evenly as the fire began to burn out, and a good hour or so later, Bill also drifted into an uneasy sleep.


	6. Bill vs Goat

The next morning, Bill was harshly woken from his blissful dreams by the loud bleating of the goat he hated passionately.

"What the hell?!" Bill whined loudly, covering his ears, but the sound wouldn't stop and so he soon opened his eyes and turned around to find the source of the awful sound.

Right next to his bed stood the goat, staring at him expectantly with its creepy button eyes.

"What the hell does it want now?!" Bill yelled at the minstrel who was filling up the wood basket that Bill had emptied yesterday with his fire-making.

"It wants to be milked," the man replied calmly, unloading his armful of wood and staking it in the basket next to the fireplace.

"You milked it yesterday!" Bill snapped furiously; this was the worst morning he'd ever had. Though he had also thought that yesterday. But today was definitely worse.

"Goats need to be milked daily. Preferably once in the morning and once in the evening."

"What?!" Bill nearly screamed. "There is no way I'm doing that, so don't even think about it!"

The minstrel shrugged, grabbing his stuff from the door and turning away; "I'll be back for dinner," he said quietly and closed the door behind himself.

Bill threw his straw pillow after him because it was the only thing within reach, but the pillow just landed on the dirty floor with quiet a sound that was apparently loud enough for the goat to hear because after sniffing the pillow for a second, it began munching on it.

Grumpily he watched as the goat ate the pillow, debating whether he should let the animal have it or not. They only had one pillow and the minstrel had been nice enough to let Bill use it last night, even if it was the most uncomfortable pillow he had ever slept on. Maybe he should salvage it from the goat.

However just as Bill was about to take the pillow from the animal, it decided to hop away with it. "Goat!" he yelled angrily, running after the goat in the tiny cottage, but apparently the goat was hungry and unwilling to give up its breakfast.

"Damnit goat!" Bill cursed angrily as he stubbed his foot on the table leg. "Give me the pillow or I'll turn you into sausages!" he threatened; the goat appeared unimpressed.

After a few more rounds around the table, Bill finally managed to snag the pillow from the goat and lifted it high above his head; "AHA! Take that, goat!" he said triumphantly, but his victory didn't last long because now that the goat's mouth wasn't filled with pillow anymore, it began to bleat loudly.

"Ugh!" he groaned loudly, throwing the saliva covered pillow back on the bed; the minstrel could sleep on that tonight because Bill sure as hell wasn't going to use that pillow ever again.

"Ok get out," Bill said flatly, pointing at the door and giving the goat an angry glare, but somehow the goat didn't seem to understand him because it just stood there like an idiot, staring back at him and bleating as loud as ever.

"I'm not kidding," he warned seriously, only to realize a moment later that the door was closed and the goat probably wasn't able to use a door handle. With a sigh, he stalked towards the door and opened it, giving the goat another expectant look and pointing outside, but the goat was obviously of the rebellious kind because it didn't do as told.

"Alright that's it!" Bill yelled angrily, grabbing the broom from its corner and swatting at the goat which had finally taken the hint and ran out of the cottage before Bill managed to hit.

"And don't you forget it!" he yelled after it, slamming the door.

With a heavy sigh, he tossed the broom back in its corner and then looked around helplessly. What was he supposed to do here all the time? Plus the only things he ate yesterday had been dry bread and a cucumber from the garden. He was starving and had no idea how to make food. At this rate he would starve here because that stupid beggar obviously didn't care about him at all; yesterday he'd also said that he'd be back for dinner, but there was no dinner at all.

'Maybe he meant that I was supposed to make dinner...?' Bill suddenly wondered; was that it? Was he supposed to cook for them? Had his...husband (the word still freaked him out) gone to bed hungry yesterday? 'Whatever, that's not my problem,' he shrugged after a second of feeling guilty; he had gone to bed hungry too, after all, and it wasn't his place to make sure that stupid beggar got food anyway.

...Or was it?

'Of course not!' Bill snapped at himself, stomping out into the garden to find something edible. Oh why wasn't he a heartless hunter who could kill that goat and eat it?!

"Alright," he said to himself, looking around the garden; "If I were a vegetable, what would I be?"

The vegetable patch hosted tomatoes, cucumbers... and a lot of green stuff that Bill had no idea what it might be. Maybe salad? But it didn't look like salad... What did salad even look like in its natural habitat? Maybe it was cabbage? What did one even do with cabbage? And what were all those weird, leafy plants all over the place?

Hesitantly, Bill inspected one of the leafy plants – it looked really useless. But it was in the garden, that meant it was edible, right?  
After a thorough inspection, Bill plucked one of the leaves off the plant and smelled it - it didn't smell like much so he gave it a careful nibble. It tasted terrible. Bill spat on the ground, trying to rid himself of the bitter taste; "What the hell is that?!" he yelled at no one.  
Really angry at the disgusting plant, he ripped it out of the ground, roots and all.

"Oh," he said stupidly, staring at the potatoes that dangled from the roots. "Ok then."

Very awkwardly he kneeled down and eyed the hole that the plant had left in the ground. There were still two more potatoes in there... But they were covered in dirt. Should he take them out...? But then he would be covered in dirt...  
With a quiet whine, he poked the dirty potato with one finger, but of course wasn't able to dig it up like that.

"Ugh, fine," he grumbled darkly, sticking his hand into the moist soil to dig up the potato. It didn't actually feel as terrible as it looked. This was the first time in his life that he ever touched dirt. It wasn't as bad as he had thought it would be. Plus he was starving so that encouraged him.

Curiously, he dug his fingers into the cool dirt, feeling the texture that was actually somewhat alluring, and began digging out the remaining potatoes that he placed next to the plant. He now had 7 potatoes – was that enough?

Enough for what? What did one do with potatoes anyway? Bill only knew the ready to eat potatoes... They were cooked, right?

After a few moments of hesitation, he picked up all his potatoes, not even paying attention that he got dirt all over his clothes, and carried them into the cottage; he could do this. He was a damned prince after all, and cooking potatoes couldn't be so hard!

Determined, he dumped the potatoes in one of the old pots, before he realized that probably had to remove the leaves and the roots... and all the dirt. So after another moment of hesitation, he carried the pot outside to the well and pulled up a bucket of water that he dumped over the dirty potatoes. The dirt washed off surprisingly easy, so soon enough he was able to throw out the dirty water before filling the pot again to boil them.  
Satisfied with his result, he returned back into the cottage where he hung the pot on the hook above the stove so it could boil. Except there was no fire, of course.

With a disgruntled sigh, Bill began the long task of making another fire. First he put the crumpled, yellowish paper in, then the sticks, the logs, and then lit a match. Just like yesterday, the fire went out just a few seconds later though.

"I hate my life!" Bill yelled in frustration.

However, eventually, just like yesterday, he succeeded in making a fire and then watched over his potatoes while they boiled away in their pot. How long did potatoes have to boil anyway?

After a short while, he got impatient and poked one of the potatoes with a fork, but it was still as hard as a rock - obviously they needed more time.  
Not being of the patient sort, Bill soon got bored with watching potatoes and returned to his poetry book. Keeping an eye on the pot, he sat on the small, wooden bench by the table and leaned against the wall by the window where he had the best light for reading. 

However, a short while into his reading, Bill felt oddly observed. It made him slightly nervous, and he looked up at the potato pot, but it was still hissing quietly on its place, hanging above the fire that burned merrily. Suspiciously, he looked around the cottage, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.  
Just as he was about to return to his book, a movement to his right caught his attention. Bill twisted his head a bit back to take a look out the window, and saw the goat standing on the tree stump outside, staring at him with its creepy glare. 

"Goat!" Bill called in frustration. "Stop staring at me, you're freaking me out!"

Apparently the goat realized it was being addressed personally because it replied with an annoying bleat. 

"I'm not going to milk you!" he yelled back, but received nothing more than another bleat. 

Determined not to let the goat ruin his mood, Bill buried his face in his book again, only to be distracted again a few seconds later. As he looked up from his book, he came face to face with the goat that was sticking its head in through the window, its front hooves perched on the windowsill outside. 

"AH!" Bill screamed hysterically, jumping away from the goat in his face. 

The goat made a similar sound to the one he had just made, but it stood its ground, staring defiantly at him. 

"Ugh. I hate you, goat," Bill grumbled darkly. The goat bleated loudly in his face. 

"And you need a tic-tac or something," he complained, edging away from the window and returning back to his book that he was unable to concentrate on with the goat staring at him. 

Various minutes went by in which he read the same passage in the book over and over, unable to really realize what it said, and the goat bleating loudly every few seconds until Bill was about to explode. 

"Fine!" He finally yelled in frustration, slamming the book on the table and momentarily silencing the goat. "I'm going to milk you, but just this once so don't get used to it!"

Angrily, he stomped towards the other side of the cottage and grabbed the empty milk bucket; where had the milk from yesterday gone...? Had the minstrel taken it with him? Whatever, Bill shrugged, trying to remember what the man had said about the milking think. What had that been...? Oats? A towel? a bucket? Bill hadn't really been listening. 

Draped over the clothesline next to the chimney, was the wash cloth the man had used yesterday to... to do what? What was the rag for? Maybe he should pay just a little bit closer attention next time... 'No I won't! I don't care about stupid things like goats!' Bill almost yelled inside his head.

Nevertheless, he took the rag and the bucket, and then headed outside where he was immediately greeted by the goat that obviously knew how things were supposed to go.  
Inside the small wood shelter, next to the chopping block, there was a barrel from which the man had gotten a handful of oats last time. Bill removed the lid, took a handful and dropped it on the ground next to the tree stump, just like the man had done yesterday. 

The goat immediately began picking up the grains, while Bill sat down on the stump and inspected the goat; it was mostly white with a few brown patches and a little tail that wagged around very quickly at random. And of course it had two weird, pinkish thingies that Bill was supposed to milk.

He scrunched up his nose in disgust while he eyed them suspiciously. Carefully he gave one of them a soft poke and waited to see the goat's reaction, but there was none - the goat remained focused on its grains. Wanting to make sure the goat wouldn't kick or something, he gave the other teat a gentle poke, but again there was no reaction, so Bill bent down a little more to take a better look. The goat's teats were slightly dirty and covered in dust - now he knew what the cloth was for. 

After wetting it by the well, he sat back down and slowly patted the goats boney back. The goat smelled funny, and its hairs were somewhat coarse, but overall it seemed very friendly. It was the first time Bill had ever touched a goat.  
"So what's your name?" he asked casually; "Shouldn't we get to know each other a bit better before we get all intimate here?" he joked with the goat that wasn't paying any attention to him as he awkwardly began to clean its udders; the goat still didn't seem to mind, so Bill got a bit more self-assured and actually managed to remove all dirt and dust from the goat within a reasonable amount of time. 

"Alright then," he said determined once he was satisfied with his cleaning, and clapped his hands together - it startled the goat that was almost done with its grain, and it ran away.

"No! Goat! Come back here!" Bill yelled in frustration, but apparently the goat was scared of his yelling because it just kept fleeing. 

"Okok. I can do this. Here goaty, goaty, goaty!" he called gently, taking another handful of oats out of the barrel. 

The goat gave him a suspicious look, but as soon as Bill dropped the grain on the ground, the goat was all over it again.

Making sure to not make any sudden movements that may alarm the goat, he sat back down. "Now don't run away. And don't kick or I'll kill you," he warned dangerously as he placed the bucket under the goat and slowly reached for one of the teats, giving it a very soft squeeze. Not much happened, but it didn't feel as terrible as he had thought. It was soft and warm and squishy.  
With a little more determination, he squeezed again, managing to get a bit more milk out of it. 

"Well this is oddly fascinating..." Bill said to the eating goat while he milked. It wasn't as disgusting or weird as he'd thought it would be. On some weird level it was actually somewhat fun.

After various minutes had passed, the milk flow seemed to thin out, and eventually the goat just walked away, apparently satisfied with the results.

"Hmph!" Bill grumbled at the goat that began nibbling on random grass blades; "Don't ask for my number or anything - it's not like I wanted to see you again anyway," he joked drily as he got up with the bucket and headed back into the cottage.

So maybe the whole milking thing wasn't as bad as he had first thought it was, and Bill actually felt very accomplished and brave. Of course that's when he remembered the potatoes he had left hanging above the fire.  
With a quiet curse, he pulled the hook with the pot from the fire and removed the lid to look inside. The water was almost gone by now and some of the potatoes had burst open, but were mostly still intact. Just like before, he poked them with a fork, and this time they were more than boiled. 

After dumping the water out the window, he placed the potatoes in the grimy-looking bowl he found in the shelf and let them cool down a bit before removing the peel that mostly peeled off by itself. Great. Now he had potatoes. And then what?  
Dejectedly he looked around the cottage; what was he supposed to eat them with? Just like that? 

Eventually he settled for a bit of salt because he had no idea what all the other weird spices were that the kitchen cabinet offered. Despite it only being potatoes with salt, they tasted delicious and Bill had never been so proud in his entire life. He had actually cooked something and milked a goat. It was more than he had ever done before in his entire life.


	7. Chapter 7

"Thomas, dearest?"   
  
Tom ducked his head at his mother's voice. He really didn’t want to talk to her right now.  
  
"Thomas!" his mother beamed as she entered his study. "Finally. I haven't seen you for nearly two days. You weren't at breakfast or dinner yesterday... And you missed lunch with us today. What have you been up to lately?"  
  
"Uh, nothing. I'm looking over these legislations that have been piling on my desk for a while," Tom shrugged, hoping she would go away again. He had missed dining with his parents because he didn't want to see them - he felt guilty about lying to them so he tried to avoid them and had resorted to eating in his quarters.   
  
"I'm so glad you're following on your royal duties again, my love, but we would like to see you a bit more often. Do take some time aside to dine with us today?" She requested sweetly. "You know how weak your father is and he would just love to see you a bit more often."  
  
'Oh goody, the guilt trip...' Tom thought sourly. "Of course I will, mother." He smiled politely at her.

Once his mother took her leave, Tom groaned quietly and buried his face in the papers on his desk. He didn’t want to dine with his bickering parents. Not that he wanted to go home to that horrible husband of his either, but still – being here was almost worse.

Maybe he should just sneak out… But then his mother would be upset again. Great.   
Sulkily, Tom sauntered out of his study, down to the yard where his squires were training swordfight. Before he’d become king, he’d always been out here with them, wasting away their days with silly duels and adventurous rides out into foreign lands, but all that had stopped once he’d become king, and now it was a rare thing that they did something together; Tom really missed those days.

“Sire,” Gustav lowered his sword as he saw him approaching and Georg followed his lead immediately. “How may we be of service, your Highness?” Gusti bowed slightly.

“Stop it,” Tom mumbled dully, “I’m so bored in the palace and I’m fearing tonight… Both because I have to dine with my parents and lie to their faces, and then because I have to go ‘home’ to Prince Bill,” the king whined pathetically.

“Now now, my King,” Geo chuckled, patting him on the shoulder; “It’s not that bad. Your parents just want to know how you’ve been lately. With this whole ‘King Thrushbeard’ issue going on, they worry about you.”

“Ugh! Don’t remind me!” Tom complained loudly; he still hated Bill for having nicknamed him like that.

“How's his royal jerkness doing anyway?” Georg asked slightly concerned.

“I don’t really know, but I’m so glad I had dinner here last night because he would have let me starve otherwise,” Tom grumbled darkly.

“Maybe he just doesn’t know how to cook?” Georg shrugged.

“Of course he doesn’t know how to cook,” Gustav rolled his eyes and fixed his glasses; “He’s a prince not a maid – why would he know how to cook?” He reasoned. “I think we need to help him with that somehow or he’ll end up starving in that cottage.” He mused slowly.

“Yes, in case he hasn’t starved already,” Tom nodded thoughtfully. “But how do we teach him that? Which of us knows how to cook?”

Both Gs shook their head, and of course Tom didn’t know either, being king and all.

“Ok, so what do we do?” Tom asked helplessly.

“We ask the royal cook? Maybe he can write down some easy recipes or something…” Geo shrugged.

“And what do we tell him why we want them? Are we suddenly interested in cooking or what?” Tom chuckled.

“No,” Gustav, always being smart, rolled his eyes again; “I will simply tell him that my mother would love recipes from him, but please only something simple and that’s it.”

“Great. Go do that. I need the recipes by tonight when I leave,” Tom instructed, and after putting away his things, Gustav went on his way to the kitchen.

“What if that doesn’t work? What if he refuses to cook?” The king voiced his worries to Georg while fetching Gustav’s sword; it had been quite a while since he had had a nice duel Georg.

“Then he will starve,” Georg simply shrugged, obviously not very concerned with the prince’s well-being.

“But I don’t want him to starve! …I think,” Tom added quietly. “En garde!” He grinned as he charged at Geo who evaded him easily.

“I’m sure he will cook before he starves, no one is that proud… I think. And you need to practice a bit more, my King,” he laughed as Tom tried to attack again, but Georg easily blocked him.

“Go easy on me, it’s been a while,” Tom chuckled. “I just don’t want something to happen to him… And I feel like he’s making zero progress,” the king sighed while they lazily crossed blades; he really did need to practice a bit more if he wanted to have a chance against his squire.

“It’s only been a few days – he’ll get there. It’s a huge change for him. The poor guy probably wants to die right now… Have you guys even gotten to know each other a bit?” Georg asked carefully, knowing he was prying into the king’s private life, but Tom didn’t mind at all; he had no secrets from his squires.

“No,” he sighed dejectedly, avoiding a gentle strike from Geo and trying to attack again but not getting far. “We barely spoke two words. He hates me.”

“Of course he does – he holds you responsible for his misery, but you could at least try to befriend him. Show him that you’re trying and that you’re not making him miserable intentionally. Even though you are… but don’t tell him that,” Georg finished with a chuckle.

Tom grinned a bit. “Yeah ok, but how do I talk to him? I’ve tried striking up a conversation a few times but he just either ignores me or yells at me… Maybe I should just tell him who I am and-”

“Absolutely not! We’ve come this far, we can’t turn back now!” Georg refused, striking at him with such force that Tom stumbled back, tripping over the sandbags that built the wall of the small training arena.

“Ah! My King!” Georg said horrified, rushing over to him and wanting to help him up.

“Cut it out,” Tom rolled his eyes, pushing his hand away and jumping up to strike at him.

Georg just laughed, evading him easily again. “I’m serious my King. If we want any chance of success, we have to stick to the plan. Just be your charming self,” he grinned.

“My charming self, right.” Tom mumbled drily. "Cuz that's worked like a charm so far."

 

~*~

After Bill was done with his potato-lunch, he returned outside to see what the goat was up to. Apparently the goat life wasn’t very interesting, because the animal was wandering around the surrounding fields, eating.

That wasn’t as exciting as Bill had hoped. What was he supposed to do here all day?   
Bored, he looked around the small garden that hosted the wood-shack, vegetable patch, the cottage and a small fenced area in front of the cottage where he had milked the goat. Behind the cottage stood a few tall trees that sheltered it a bit from the weather, and the small complex was surrounded by green meadows that reached for a few hundred feet before ending in the forest on all sides.   
The forest that belonged to King Thrushbeard… ‘ _Had I married him, they would be mine…_ ’

Bill closed his eyes and took a deep breath. That part of his life was over anyway and he could never go back. The minstrel had been right: he was just Bill now.

Dejectedly, he wandered outside the garden and sat down in the middle of the grass, at a loss of what to do. In the past few two days he had still been in denial – he’d been furious and wanted to kill that damned minstrel, but now he was just sad. He hated this life and didn’t know how to cope with it. Everything was dirty, there was no food, no servants, no nice things of any kind – he didn’t even have someone to talk to. Not that he had ever wanted that before, but now that he didn’t have the option anymore, he felt lonely. And knowing that this was everything his life would ever be, was almost unbearable.

Miserably, he wrapped his arms around his knees and buried his head; he wanted to die. How could his life have come to this?   
He was dirty, tired and with no hope or prospects for a future.

And so he just sat there in the grass, quietly sobbing into his arms, waiting for it to get dark so… so what? So that horrible husband of his would come home and… and then? They’d go to bed, and tomorrow the same day would repeat itself.

That just brought a new wave of tears to his eyes. Maybe he should just kill himself or something – get it over with. But how does one kill themselves? Did they even have any sharp knives around here? Probably not… ‘ _Ugh, I can’t even kill myself properly,_ ’ he thought miserably.

Soft footsteps alerted him and let him freeze for a second. Was it the minstrel? Was he already back and had he just caught him crying? No way would he allow that stupid beggar to see him like this! Bill wanted to kick himself for being so stupid and just sitting around like this, crying pathetically.

The footsteps in the grass slowly drew nearer, and then stopped right in front of him just as he had swallowed the last tears and wiped at his eyes before lifting his head proudly.   
However it wasn’t the minstrel standing in front of him, it was the goat.

“Oh! Goat!” Bill groaned miserably, relieved it hadn’t been his husband. “What do you want?” He grumbled darkly once his relief was taken over by annoyance at having been alarmed.

The goat didn’t say anything, and just nibbled on the grass at his feet.

“Goat,” he whined sadly, grabbing the goat by its neck and pulling it into a hug. It smelled weird. Like goat. But he didn’t care right now, he wanted someone to hug and the goat would have to do. It gave a few objecting bleats, but soon enough fell silent; whether it was because it wanted to share Bill’s pain or because Bill was squeezing it so hard the poor animal didn’t get enough air, was unclear.

“Your life totally sucks… Having to live here all alone…” Bill mumbled quietly, unsure if he was really talking to the goat or himself. “And now I’m sitting here talking to myself like a crazy person… Oh look! I’m still doing it!”

The goat gave him an odd look as he pulled away, but remained silent.

“But I’m not you… I’m not just going to give up and let people do whatever the hell they want with me!” He told the goat determined. “I’m not going to be that damned beggar’s servant! He can cook his own stupid potatoes or whatever,” he finished angrily, getting up and stalking away.

If that beggar really thought Bill would cook, clean, chop wood and whatever else for him, he was in for a nasty surprise. Bill was determined to figure this life out, but only for himself – so he could live in this horrible place by himself. With the goat.

“Goat where are you?!” Bill yelled over his shoulder. The goat was still standing in the field, staring at him.

“Come here goaty!” He called sweetly; last time the goat had responded to that.

A bit uncertain, the goat followed him into the garden and gave him an expectant bleat.

“Yes, ‘mehhh’,” Bill said with a nod. “Let’s give you a name. What would you like to be called?”

The goat obviously had no preference because it didn’t say anything.

“Alright then, how about… Goat?” Bill asked slowly. “I think Goat sounds good.”

Goat didn’t have any objections to the name.

“Ok, Goat it is then!” Bill clapped this hands; this time Goat only gave him a weird look, but didn’t run away. Obviously Goat was getting used to his clapping.

“I’m going to go inside now to read because I’m lazy, and you go eat something. I’ll see you later, Goat.” Bill nodded at Goat, and then went inside. 


	8. Chapter 8

The sun was already low in the sky by the time the small clearing came into view. Just like yesterday, the chimney was smoking, and everything else looked normal. However as Tom approached, he noticed that the goat was peacefully grazing instead of bleating as if its life depended on it – had Bill seriously milked her?

"Hey," Tom murmured quietly at the goat as he passed it, but the goat gave off no signals of wanting to be milked again today, so he proceeded into the house where he found Bill sitting on the bed, still reading Tom's book. Had Bill made any progress? The goat milking had to be a sign of improvement, right?

"Good evening." Hopefully, Tom tried Georg's advice about trying to talk to his husband; maybe today things would be easier.

"Good evening," the prince replied acidly, not looking up from his book; or not.

"Did you have a good day?" Tom asked carefully; obviously Bill wasn't in the mood to talk, but then again... when was he ever?

"No," Bill snapped, slamming the book shut so hard that dust came out of its pages, and then turned around, facing the wall. "Goodnight." Obviously the prince wasn't ready to move on from the goat.

Tom sighed heavily; at this rate they wouldn't be friends in ten years...

~*~

Angrily, Bill stared at the wall. The nerve of that beggar to be asking how his day went! It was plain obvious that his day had been terrible, how dare he even ask! Bill was fuming – he absolutely hated that man.

For a few minutes he heard the minstrel rummaging around the cottage before the dweeb began speaking again.

"Did you milk the goat?" He asked in that patient, nice tone that was driving Bill insane.

"No, it milked itself," Bill scoffed sourly.

The minstrel was quiet for a few seconds, but eventually carried on talking. "Thank you."

Bill wanted to punch him. Why the hell did that dumb man always have to be so nice? Couldn't he just be mean so that Bill could hate him in peace?

"Is there any milk left?" The minstrel asked after another few moments of silence; that guy just couldn't shut up.

"No. I accidentally spilled it. Sorry," Bill sneered with a smirk; there was no way he was going to give that beggar any milk that he had had to milk from the damned goat. Ok, the goat wasn't damned... Goat was great, but still.

~*~

Tom stared at the prince's back in disbelief; had he seriously spilled the milk on purpose so Tom couldn't have any? It's not like it really mattered because Tom had already eaten and could get as much goat milk as he wanted, but Bill didn't know that. Had the prince deliberately wasted the milk despite them supposedly being so poor? What kind of a person did something like that? For all Bill knew, Tom hadn't eaten anything all day; that prince was by far the most heartless person he'd ever met.

"That's ok, it can happen," Tom said quietly, wanting to punch the arrogant prince in his pretty face, but refusing to lower himself down to his level; he would be civil and try to mend things between them. After all, he was in love with this man and wanted to win his heart, right? Right?!

~*~

Bill could hardly believe his ears – had the beggar seriously told him it was ok that he spilled the milk? Not that Bill had actually spilled it – he'd drank it all, but that wasn't the point – the man didn't even sound very upset. Maybe a bit disappointed, but not angry.

"Anyway, I had a lucky day today because there was a fair in town, so I earned enough to buy you some new clothes that may be more comfortable," the minstrel continued after another short pause.

Bill turned around to stare at him; was he serious?

Apparently he was, because he removed various garments from his satchel and placed them on the bench. They weren't exactly the type of clothes that Bill was used to, but he didn't have any spare clothes with him and really wanted to change into a set of new clothes. And let's not forget that he hadn't bathed in various days and though that may be normal for beggars, Bill was used to his morning bath every day.

Very slowly he got up from the bed and warily approached the clothes, half expecting the minstrel to suddenly say something really nasty, but the man was busy putting his things away and then looked into the basket that had contained bread once; Bill had eaten it. There was an unusual stab of guilt in his stomach that Bill had never encountered in this fashion before; the minstrel had spent his entire money on a set of clothes for Bill, while Bill had made sure not to leave a single crumb of food lying around for him. Had the beggar gone hungry all day...?

 _'Whatever, that's not my problem. I didn't ask for the clothes._ ' Bill tried to calm his conscience down, but it didn't work as well as he had hoped.

Angry at the man for making him feel bad, Bill left the clothes untouched and went back to bed, turning away from his husband. The fact that the man had so little and was still willing to share with him, was unnerving and angered him; he didn't want the beggar to be generous and kind to him because he wanted to hate him, but the stupid man was making it very difficult, and now he had even gotten Bill to feel guilty. Damn him.

~*~

For the second time tonight, Tom was disappointed with the prince, but not as much as before. He hadn't expected him to be delighted over the old rags he had gotten him, but when Bill had gotten up, he'd thought to get at least something out of him. However after taking a quick look, the prince had gone back to ignoring him.

Nevertheless, Tom made one last attempt at striking up a conversation. "I talked to a friend who works in the palace kitchen and he put together a few cooking recipes for us."

"For _us_?!" The prince snarled, suddenly sitting up and glaring at him. "You mean for _me_ so I can cook for you! What the hell do I look like to you – a maid?! You can cook your own damn meals!"

And with that he turned around again, destroying all of Tom's hopes of being able to talk to him today. Obviously Bill was far from ready to be civil, so Tom decided to give up – at least for today. He was hurt and disappointed by Bill's behavior – again - and had half a mind of just going back to the palace to sleep there because he really didn't want to lie down next to the horrible prince, but eventually decided against it and lay down on the uncomfortable straw bed. The prince had, of course, hogged all the covers and taken their pillow, so Tom snuggled into his dirty clothes again, trying not to think of the hopeless situation he was in.

 

~*~

By the time Bill opened his eyes and blinked into the annoying sun that always woke him up because the cottage had no curtains, the minstrel had gone without a trace, again leaving him alone in the cottage with nothing but Goat as company. Of course Bill was happy the stupid man had gone, but there was a tiny little part of him that was oddly disappointed; after the man had talked so much yesterday, Bill had wanted him to stick around and maybe try a few more times. Not that it would have made a difference, of course – Bill hated him, but still, it would have been nice of he had tried.

Angry at his own disappointment, Bill stalked outside to look for Goat whom he found grazing lazily in the garden. As soon as she spotted him, Goat began to bleat; Bill assumed it wanted to be milked.

"Morning Goat, how's it going?" Bill asked as he went back inside to get the milk bucket and the rag.

Goat answered with a loud 'meh'.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Bill sighed, getting a handful of grain out of the barrel and then sitting down to milk Goat.

"You know, I really hate your owner. Why is he so nice all the time? It's really annoying," Bill conversed with Goat while he milked. "I mean seriously, what the hell is wrong with him? Why can't he just behave like a normal person and get angry when I let him starve? Not that I want him to be angry... Or maybe I do. I don't know." Bill ranted randomly, hoping that saying things out loud would solve his inner dilemma.   
It really didn't.

"Well whatever, he's just some stupid minstrel anyway." Bill mumbled as he finished milking and Goat walked away again. There wasn't a lot of milk today because he had milked her yesterday in the evening before the beggar came home, but it was enough for him. There was no way he would leave any for that damn husband of his.

Back in the cottage, Bill poured the milk into a mug and then drank half of it, leaving the rest for lunch when he intended to cook something again. But what? Potatoes again? Probably...   
That reminded him of the recipes the minstrel had gotten – where they still around?

After a quick scan of the cottage, he found them on the bench, right next to the clothes. First he would take a bath and change his clothes, then he would cook. Not like he had anything better to do anyway.

But where would he take a bath...? They had no tub... and no warm water... Did that mean Bill had to wash himself with cold water from the stream?!   
With a miserable groan, Bill grabbed the clothes and the dried up bar of soap from the shelf, and then headed out towards the edge of the forest where the small stream ran by. Gingerly he stuck his hand into the freezing water and groaned again; being poor sucked.

After a few minutes of hesitation, he swiftly removed his clothes and began to wash himself, hoping that no one would come by right now. It only took a few moments until he began shivering from the cold, and by the time he was finally done with everything, his teeth were shattering.   
Quickly he pulled on the new set of clothes that didn't smell as bad as it looked, and rubbed his arms, trying to warm himself a bit.

Of course now he was left with a dirty set of really unpractical clothes – should he wash them...? Great... this was what his life had been reduced to: milking goats, eating potatoes and washing dirty clothes...   
Bill didn't even know how to wash clothes... Was he just supposed to dump them in water and then soap them or something?

Warily he grabbed the clothes he had shed earlier and put them underwater, making sure not to let them go so the stream wouldn't carry them away, and once they were thoroughly wet he pulled them back out, laid them flat against the rocks and clumsily soaped them. How much soap was required...?

While he washed, Bill tried to think of all the other things he had to learn to do. Never in his life had he realized how little he was capable of doing - namely nothing at all. He had never learned to do anything whatsoever... For the first time he really admired all the people who worked in the palace – they were all skilled at one thing or another, while Bill... Bill was just skilled at being a prissy prince who was generally useless.

How had he never seen that before? He'd never even thought about it, not even for a moment. He'd taken everything he had for granted, and thought his entire like would go on like that forever. He'd never bothered to look at what other people did - never bothered to learn anything from anyone. How was his life meant to go on? He wasn't capable of surviving on his own... Or was he?  
Was he really smart enough to learn everything on his own without anyone's help...?   
Or could he somehow accept the minstrel's help without the man noticing it...?

 


	9. Chapter 9

"I hate my life!" Tom whined sadly at Georg who stood next to Tom's desk, patting the king's back. Tom rested his head on the table, his face buried in all the papers, and complained about how much he hated his husband.

"I'm sure it'll be alright, my king. He made progress – milking a goat is a big step for him. We need to give him some credit for that." Geo said sympathetically.

Tom gave a pathetic wail. "This was the worst idea I've ever had in my life. He's so mean to me."

"I'm sure he just needs a bit more time, your majesty." Gustav said from his spot on the chair across from Tom's desk.

Tom just groaned in reply.

 

~*~

Once Bill was done with his washing, he hung up the clothes on the fence, feeling very accomplished. They looked all clean and smelled of cheap soap. Satisfied, he nodded at the clothes and then went back inside in search of the recipe; having been successful in washing made him optimistic, and he was determined to figure this cooking thing out too.

There were various different ones - most for vegetable stews and soups and other gross stuff like that, but it probably beat eating cooked potatoes every day, so Bill decided to go with the shortest one. It was for a simple vegetable soup. He'd start with that.

Determined, he marched outside into the garden with the recipe and a small basket, in search of the things he'd need. First on his list was potatoes. Good, he already knew which plant that was, and very quickly found the easily distinguishable plant among all the green stuff.

The plant gave off 8 potatoes; 5 small ones and 3 larger ones. That would have to do because the recipe said _'1 pound'_ and Bill had no idea how much one pound of potatoes may be.   
Next on his list was onions.

"Ew..." Bill muttered darkly; he didn't really like onions. Maybe he should leave that out... Alright fine, he would add it. Maybe in a soup they didn't taste too bad.  
But which ones were onions...? He couldn't see any. Maybe there weren't any...? Because seriously, who would plant onions anyway? Gross.

Slowly, Bill walked through the rows of greens, checking each plant that held absolutely no meaning to him. What did a naked onion look like?!

After having checked through the entire garden without success, Bill came up with a very smart idea: he would smell for it. Onions had a very distinguishable smell that he really didn't like, so he would just smell every plant until he found the right one.

Feeling very clever, Bill pulled a piece of green from the first plant, squished in between his fingers and smelled it. It was definitely not onion, or anything else that he recognized.   
With a nod, he moved on the next one. It smelled familiar, but not like onion; what was that smell...? He knew it from somewhere... It smelled like soup. It was a rather thin, somewhat large, green plant with straight stems and a little green frizzle on the top.

Critically, Bill inspected the list: 1 pound of potatoes. 3 onions. 1/5 cabbage. 4 carrots... Those were the long, orange sticks, right? Bill knew those.   
1 turnip... What the hell was that? He'd never heard of it. Last on the list was celery. 2 stems, including leaves. That's what the plant was that smelled like soup. Bill knew it - his mother always wanted him to eat celery and carrot sticks when she thought he was being too unhealthy, but he usually refused.

Triumphantly, Bill ripped the entire celery plant out of the ground and stuffed it into his basket, muddy roots and all, and then proceed with his onion search.   
The next plant in the garden was a cabbage; Bill recognized it because it looked very distinguishable, being green and round and all.

After adding the cabbage to his basket, which was beginning to get quite heavy, he carried on with his search for onions, which he also found very soon; the smelling thing had truly worked. Bill had never felt so smart and awesome in his entire life.

Enthusiastically, he pulled 3 onions out of the ground and put them into the basket together with his other ingredients. Now all he still needed was carrots and... Bill had to look at the list for the last thing he needed: turnip. Yeah, he would probably have to leave that one out because even if he saw it, he probably wouldn't recognize it.

How would he recognize a carrot though? There was nothing orange in this garden... It was probably another one of those annoying vegetables that grew underground so you wouldn't know what it is until you pull it out.

With a few unflattering words directed towards carrots, Bill continued his smelling search; maybe carrots also smelled like carrots... Bill knew the smell of carrots. Or at least he thought he'd recognize it if he smelled it... Hopefully.

And indeed, after just two more rows of plants, he smelled a squished leaf that had a carroty scent. Not wanting to get the wrong plant, Bill inspected it closely, and soon spotted a small, orangey root that barely stuck out of the ground.

"Hah!" He said triumphantly, savagely ripping the carrot out of the ground. The garden hosted many carrots, so Bill decided to collect 5 instead of the 4 he needed for his soup; he was a bit hungry and, despite never having liked carrots before because he always had better things to eat, right now a carrot sounded pretty nice. He hadn't had any breakfast yet, other than the goat's milk, after all.

Just to make sure he got everything, he checked his list of ingredients again; the only thing missing was the turnip, but that would have to wait.

"I got everything, Goat!" Bill said enthusiastically as he closed the small gate to the vegetable patch. "Except for a turnip. Any idea what that is?" he asked skeptically, but obviously Goat had no idea either because she just stared at him in her creepy goat fashion.

"Yeah, didn't think so." Bill nodded, setting the basket down next to the well and pulling a few buckets of water up that he poured into the stone basin where he washed the dirt off the vegetables before heading back inside the cottage to proceed with the recipe. He left the one carrot behind to dry a bit in the sun so he could eat it later.

 _'Peel and dice the potatoes'_ was the first line under preparation. What the heck did that mean?

Bill stared at the recipe. Ok so the peeling thing he got, but what was that about dicing?  
With a roll of his eyes, Bill began peeling the potatoes. Once he was done, half the potato had come off with the peel – that was probably not a pound anymore, right? _Well whatever_ , he shrugged and then cut them into little cubes because that 'dicing' thing made no sense to him. Who cared anyway, right?

The vegetable cutting was actually not as easy as he had thought, and all his cubes were of different sizes and looked very asymmetric – not at all like the potato cubes Bill was used to from the dishes in the palace... Who was the genius in the royal kitchen who managed to make them all the same size?

 _'Peel and quarter onions'_. Quarter? Like...cut into 4 pieces? Why didn't they just say that if that's what they meant?! Bill cursed at whoever had written this dumb recipe. And how did one even peel onions...? They had layers... How many were peel and how many were onion...?!  
With a dark growl, Bill began to peel off onion layers; it was actually very easy to tell because the peel was thin and hard, and the inside was all happy and juicy.   
However shortly after beginning to peel, his eyes suddenly began to burn; what the heck was going on here? Was he going blind all of a sudden?!

"AH!" Bill yelled horrified, wiping at his stinging eyes; what was happening to him?!

Unfortunately that only made it worse, and he ran outside to the well to wash his hands; apparently it was the onions.

"Goat!" Bill yelled in exasperation, though now that he was outside, the stinging subdued a bit. "What is wrong with these demonic onions?!" He asked Goat who gave him a rather unimpressed look. "They are trying to kill me!"

It took various minutes of wandering aimlessly around the garden before his eyes felt semi-normal again, and he returned into the cottage, suspiciously eyeing the onions. He would never let them win. He would peel them and show them that he didn't care about their poison.   
Determined, Bill quickly peeled and quartered the onions and threw them in the pot with water before immediately discarding the peel in the compost behind the cottage.

Once he was finally done with the demon onions, he took another look at the recipe.

 _'Cut cabbage'_ Ok that told him nothing at all. Bill just cut it into thin strips and tossed it into the pot together with the potatoes and onions.

 _'Slice carrots'_ That meant cut into slices, right? Bill shrugged, slicing the carrots clumsily. Similar to the potatoes, all slices were differently thick, and again Bill admired the vegetable cutter from the palace who managed to make them all the same.

There was no indication for the celery so he just dumped two stems into the pot. The turnip that was supposed to be diced again, was left out, so Bill was now done with preparing vegetables and could add the rest of the water. Now came the complicated part: ' _Seasoning'_. What did that even mean?

Bill stared at the weird names on the recipe: _'10 dry juniper berries'_ Bill had never heard of this berry, but berries really couldn't go well in a soup, so he decided to skip that.   
_'A spoon of ground caraway'_ again something he'd never heard of so he skipped that too.   
_'10 dried bayleaves'_ "What?!" Bill whined miserably. Whatever, he would also skip that one.  
_'A pinch of nutmeg'_. What the heck was nutmeg and how much in the world was a pinch?! Bill shook his head, skipping this as well.

Oh, there was one he knew! _'A spoon of salt'_

Bill decided to go with that. Salt would be enough _seasoning_. Did they even have salt?

After searching through half the cottage, Bill finally found a small bag of it inside a cupboard, and poured a large spoon into the soup that was beginning to simmer. With the large, wooden spoon that hung next to the fireplace, he stirred the entire thing to mix it, and then tasted a bit of it. It tasted terrible. Like sugared water...

Bill gave the bag of salt a suspicious look and then tried a few grains. "Oh..." he muttered dully and stuffed the bag of sugar into the cupboard that also hosted a few other bags of things. After checking a few that contained weird leaves and other odd looking things, he finally found another one with small, white grains.

Skeptically he tasted a few grains, just to make sure it was salt this time, and then poured a spoon into the soup. Should he add another one to balance out the sugar?   
With a shrug, Bill added another spoon.

After having done everything the recipe instructed, he put the lid on the pot to let it boil for 2,5 hours, just like the recipe said, and then headed back outside to the carrot he had left by the well; he was exhausted from all the hard work he had already done, and really deserved a carrot.

However as he got there, the carrot was gone, and Goat was standing suspiciously close to the well.

"Goat!" Bill accused, pointing at it. "Did you eat my carrot?"

Goat gave him an innocent look, but Bill wasn't fooled. "I know you ate my carrot! Just be a man and admit it!" He scolded Goat who was obviously pretty tough and remained silent as the grave.

"Whatever. I can get another one any time I want." Bill said pointedly, and fetched himself another carrot from the garden while Goat watched him with an expectant look.

"Hah! I have a carrot and you don't!" Bill waved the carrot in front of Goat's face, who made an attempt to nip at it, but Bill triumphantly pulled it out of its reach.

Goat complained loudly and followed Bill to the well where he washed his carrot before loudly munching on it. "Hmmm. It's delicious!" He smirked down at Goat who bleated loudly.

"Forget it!" He said nastily, turning his back on Goat. Obviously Goat didn't give up that easily though because a moment later it came around to stand in front of him again, staring up at him with its large, button eyes.

"Ugh," Bill growled, feeling almost bad. Maybe he should give Goat a bit... maybe just the leaves.

"Fine," he finally muttered, pulling the carrot top off and handing it to Goat who happily munched on it for a few seconds before the entire top was gone.

Bill had only taken one more bite during this time. "Forget it! You already had the top!" He scowled down at Goat who bleated loudly, giving him another one of those puppy looks.

"Oh fine!" Bill grumbled after a few moments, breaking his carrot in half and handing the smaller half over to Goat. "But that's it!" He snapped.

But of course Goat was done before him, and so he ended up giving her the last piece as well. Goat had very convincing arguments.  

 

~*~

Tom sighed heavily as the clearing with the cottage came into view. _'Home sweet Hell'_ he thought darkly as he approached.

As he entered the yard, he saw the prince's clothes hanging over the fence. Apparently Bill had changed clothes and washed his old ones - which was awesome because the prince was beginning to smell weird – and he had also milked the goat. Had he left some milk for Tom today...? Probably not... But at least he had carried on with the milking and even washed his clothes – that was progress, right?

With another sigh, Tom entered the cottage that smelled like... food?


	10. Chapter 10

"Good evening," Tom said quietly as he entered to find the prince on his usual spot on the bed, head stuck in the book. Their old pot stood on the ground next to the oven; had Bill really cooked something? Should Tom ask...?

"Evening," the prince replied coldly.

~*~

While the man put his things away, like always, Bill peeked over the rim of his book to take a better look at the dirty minstrel. His brown, longish hair hung in a mess around his shoulders, and looked as if it hadn't been combed in ten years, reminding Bill that his own hair needed caring. The flimsy bath by the stream really hadn't been all that effective, and his hair was getting all disgusting and greasy; just thinking about it made Bill's skin crawl. Soon he would look like that disgusting bag of dirt that called itself his husband...   
The only thing about him that was oddly  _unpeasanty_  was the fact that he was shaved well - something Bill also needed soon. But of course he had no idea how to do that because he always had the royal barber do that for him; great. It's not like it was that bad yet - he'd had a shave a few days ago, and he was naturally not all that hairy, so it was still fine, but sooner or later he did need to shave or he would end up looking like...  _'Yeah, don't say that name...'_

As the man turned to look at him, Bill quickly looked back down at his book and pretended to read.

"Did you have a good day?" The man asked, just like yesterday.

"No," Bill growled, despite that not being fully true. Even though large parts of his day had sucked, obviously, he still felt good about it; he had accomplished a lot and felt very proud. Which was something rather unfamiliar to him; of course Bill was a very proud person, but up until now he hadn't actually been proud of himself because... Well, because he had never done anything to be proud of - it was confusing. But the point was that he felt very good about himself.

"It smells very nice," the minstrel said softly, looking at the pot.

There was a weird twinge in Bill's stomach at the man's words; what was that?  
No one had ever told him that something he had done was nice - obviously. It was a strange thing to be told. Usually people always paid him all sorts of compliments, but that was always due to who he was, not due to what he had accomplished. Did the man appreciate the fact that Bill had cooked...? Was he hungry? Should he ask him if he wanted some? Bill really wanted the minstrel to try it because he had worked very hard on it and was very proud of it, despite it not tasting as great as the ones in the palace did, but he wanted to share it anyway. It was a very odd feeling that he had never known like this before.

"If you want you can have some..." Bill mumbled quietly. "If you're hungry. Or whatever. I don't care." He added quickly, not missing the man's warm smile before he quickly looked back down at his book.

~*~

Tom turned his head away to hide his grin; that was definite progress, right?

"Thank you," he said politely, grabbing a bowl from the shelf and pouring himself some soup; it didn't actually smell like much, and Tom wasn't actually hungry, but that wasn't the point.

Once seated at the table, he lifted a spoonful, eyeing it suspiciously; what the heck had the prince put in there...?!   
There was a large, flabby piece of something green floating in it...Was that lettuce?! Had the prince confused cabbage and lettuce?

Tom nearly laughed, but quickly swallowed it; obviously Bill had put a lot effort into this and Tom wanted to show him that he appreciated it, so he quickly put the spoon in his mouth, only to nearly choke on it. It tasted absolutely repugnant. It was extremely salty, with an odd undernote of sugar and a few over-boiled vegetables in it. The overall taste was very mild, so it tasted mostly like sugared salt water.

Just as he was about to spit the mouthful out, his eyes crossed with the prince's curious, hopeful gaze, and he quickly swallowed the disgusting excuse of a soup.

"It's very good, thank you." He smiled gently, carrying on eating despite that it nearly caused him physical pain to do so. But since the prince smiled the first real smile Tom had ever seen on him, it was well worth it.

The delighted look on Bill's face didn't last long because he quickly looked away, but it had been long enough for Tom to see it, and let him know that the prince was indeed making progress. Maybe this hadn't been such a bad idea after all.

~*~

Of course Bill hadn't missed the minstrel's horrified expression the moment he tried the soup, and since Bill had tried it himself earlier, he knew how terrible it tasted, but the man still ate it without complaint, and even appreciated it despite it being so gross. Why was that man so nice? If anyone had tried to feed Bill that soup, he would have taken the entire pot and thrown it on their head...

While the man ate, Bill watched him over the rim of his book. There was something familiar about him... Was it his eyes? Where did he know them from...?   
 _'We've been married for like... 3 days already, maybe from there?'_ He thought drily, mentally rolling his eyes at himself.

Now that he actually took a moment to look at him, the minstrel was actually somewhat handsome...  _'Oh my god! Bill! What are you thinking?!'_  He yelled at himself, appalled by his own thoughts. The man was nothing but a disease-ridden, ill-smelling flea-bag.   
Well maybe he didn't smell bad... and so far Bill hadn't actually seen any fleas yet, but he was probably diseased! All peasants were disgusting, and so was that guy.

Angrily, Bill glared down at the book in front of him, unsure why he was upset. However before be managed to think too deep into it, a loud thunder interrupted the quiet glade, and a moment later it began to rain.

The minstrel quickly closed the wooden shutters outside to keep the wind and rain from coming in, while Bill instinctively pulled the thin covers over himself, a bit scared by the sudden loud rattling going on all around them; the cottage sounded as if it would fly away any second.

And just when Bill thought things couldn't possibly get any worse, it suddenly starting dripping on his book. For a few seconds he stared in disbelief as water slowly trickled down from the roof until he realized what was happening.

"Your house is leaky?!" He yelled in disbelief, jumping up from the bed to get away from the wet, but unfortunately that wasn't the only leaky place: right in front of the chimney, water was also beginning to pool on the floor.

~*~

Tom groaned internally; the Gs couldn't have fixed at least the roof?! Wonderful... Just when things had begun to get a little bit better with Bill...

Having no idea what to do now, Tom proceeded to move the bed a bit so it wouldn't get wet; right now it was the only thing they could do anyway.

"What the hell are you doing?" Bill snapped angrily.

"At least that way we'll have a dry place to sleep." Tom shrugged, having thought this was quite obvious.

"That's not going to help! Fix it!" Bill glared up at the roof.

"I can't fix the roof right now... We'll do it tomorrow." Tom assured him, having no idea how to fix a roof.

"' _We_ '?!" Bill all but screamed. " _We_  aren't doing anything at all!  _You_  can fix your bloody roof on your own!" The prince snarled furiously, getting into the bed that Tom had just finished moving, and turned his back to him, like always.

Tom sighed sadly; it was like one step forward required ten steps back. How would they ever move forward like this?

Dejectedly, he put a few pots and buckets under the leaks, and then lay down next to the fuming prince. Well tonight had turned into another absolute catastrophe.

~*~

Bill wanted to cry, and if he weren't so proud, he would have. He absolutely hated it here; it was freezing cold, wet, windy, and generally just terrible. Even their house leaked! This life absolutely sucked.

It was always rather cold at night after the fire went out, but it had never been as bad as now when the wind blew through the cottage so much that Bill was shivering under the lousy covers. How would he ever survive a winter in this place?   
It was late in August, so actually still quite warm, and yet it was so cold tonight - what would they do once it got actually freezing?!

Miserably, Bill was reminded that it was his birthday in about a week. It would be the first time in his life that he wouldn't throw a huge party. No, he would spend it alone and miserable... The minstrel probably didn't even know that it was his birthday...   
That just dampened his mood even more, and he pulled the covers over his head, wishing he could just block the entire world out.

Sadly he couldn't - he couldn't even block the cold out, and so he just shivered quietly, trying not to think of the man next to him who didn't even have a blanket... Should he share with him?   
Just to make sure he didn't die because otherwise Bill would be lost all on his own, so really he was just doing it for his own good. Yes. That.

Very hesitantly he turned around a bit to look at the minstrel lying next to him. He was staring up at the ceiling with a slightly miserable expression, but soon looked over, having noticed Bill looking, and smiled that ever patient smile, though this time it was a bit apologetic.

"I'm sorry about the terrible circumstances. I know this isn't what you're used to, and if I could, I would offer you something far better." He said softly.

Bill stared at him a bit bewildered, suddenly feeling bad for having yelled at him earlier; it wasn't his fault he was born a beggar, after all...

Not knowing what to say, Bill just pushed a bit of the covers over to him before turning around again, not wanting to look at him. Looking at him always made him feel bad because the guy was so nice, and it drove him crazy.

"Thanks," the minstrel muttered quietly, crawling under the covers with him.

Now that the minstrel lay so utterly close, Bill thought that maybe this hadn't been such a good idea; having to share a bed with him was bad enough, but even sharing a blanket?

 _'Oh god... I bet he has lice... and fleas... and scabies..._ ' Bill thought darkly, nearly wanting to jump from the bed, but being too coward, so he just lay there, fully paranoid and unable to sleep for quite some time.

~*~

So maybe it hadn't been ten steps back... Only like... 2 or 3. It was the first time Bill was willing to share their covers, after all, and that had to mean something, right?

With that nice thought in mind and feeling comfortingly warm, snuggled up against Bill's lithe body, Tom finally drifted off into an uneasy sleep from which he was awoken various times due to the wind and thunder outside.

Bill didn't seem to mind the noise at all because he snoozed peacefully like always, apparently unaware of the storm raging outside.

However, unlike usually, Bill had turned around in his sleep and now clung to Tom like a giant barnacle that left him mostly immobilized; thankfully he was very light, or Tom would have already suffocated from the weight of the prince who was lying almost fully on top of him, and made no signs of moving any time soon.

Despite not being able to sleep very well, Tom still enjoyed the night, knowing that this kind of behavior was one he would never witness from an awake prince.

 


	11. Chapter 11

When Bill next opened his eyes, the storm was over and had made way for a beautiful, sunny morning. The buckets the minstrel had placed under the leaks last night were overflowing, and there was water all over the floor. At least their bed had remained dry...

It was still cold, and Bill quickly pulled on his coat as he got out of bed, trying not to step in all the puddles of water as he made his way outside to look for Goat.  
As he opened the door, however, he found that Goat had already been milked, and the milk bucket was standing on the small bench next to the cottage's door; had the minstrel milked her before leaving today...?

Just then, he saw the minstrel carrying a few roof tiles from the wood shack over to a ladder that was leaning against the roof. Apparently he really was going to fix the roof today...   
Bill watched idly as the beggar clumsily climbed up the first steps of the ladder, carrying one roof tile and looking very wobbly; obviously this wasn't something he was used to doing either. Hopefully he wouldn't fall off...

' _Though if he did, I'd be rid of him!'_ Bill thought nastily, before a small voice interrupted his sinister thoughts; ' _Yeah, and you'll also die because he's the only person who cares about you...'_

Was that really true...? Was the minstrel really the only person who cared about him? Obviously so... The first day Bill had thought that maybe some of his friends would come to rescue him, but apparently none of them cared that he had been reduced to a beggar... He had also sometimes hoped that his mothers would show up and tell him it had all been a cruel joke and he could come home again, but by now he had mostly lost hope for that; apparently the minstrel really was the only person he had in the world.   
And he looked like he was about to fall off the ladder...

~*~

Tom cursed under his breath; he was scared of heights and about to have a heart attack. What had he been thinking?! Why was he trying to fix this roof on his own? He was going to kill himself!   
But Bill had been so upset last night and Tom really wanted to show him that he was also making an effort for him...

"Do you need some help with that?" The prince's voice suddenly startled him, nearly causing him to fall off the ladder.

"No, I'm fine. Thank you. I do this all the time," Tom stuttered, steadying himself on the wobbly ladder, and trying not to look down because it made him dizzy.

' _Alright, focus, Tom. One foot in front of the other... All you have to do is climb a super high ladder... crawl on the roof... exchange a few tiles... and get back down... Without dying in the process...'_ Tom tried to encourage himself, and took a deep breath to calm himself down.

~*~

Bill raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms as he stood next to the ladder, watching the minstrel fidgeting around on it; was he afraid of heights or something? He looked so stressed out... And he was slightly pale... Bill almost felt sorry for him. But only almost.

"Shall I do that?" He offered.

"No, I got it." The man insisted.

"Are you sure? Because you've been standing on the second step of the ladder for like 5 minutes already..." Bill said amused, tapping the man's leg a bit to prove the fact that the minstrel wasn't even 3 feet off the ground yet.

Distressed, the man looked down at him, clutching the ladder.

"Let me try that..." Bill said while rolling his eyes and tugging a bit on the man's clothes to get him back down.

Very slowly, the minstrel crawled down from the ladder, looking a bit shaken. How did this man ride a horse if he was scared of being 3 feet off the ground? Maybe he didn't know how to ride... He was a beggar, after all, maybe he had never been on a horse before.

Hesitantly, the man handed him the tile, and Bill climbed up the ladder. How was he supposed to know which tile to change?

Once he was high enough to climb onto the roof, Bill paused to inspect the situation. The roof was covered in old, mossy tiles, and looked generally dangerous. Carefully he pulled and pushed around on the tile in front of him, until he discovered that it could be slid upwards and that underneath, there was a wooden roof batten.   
A bit further up the roof he saw a tile that had a large piece missing from it; that had to be the one above their bed.

Determined, Bill stepped into the hole that he had made by pushing the tile up, and stepped on the batten to pull himself up on the roof.

"Be careful!" The minstrel called from ground.

Bill looked down at him and smirked, feeling very triumphant about having managed to crawl on a roof without killing himself.

~*~

Tom was going crazy; what had he been thinking by letting the prince go up there?! What if he fell down and broke his neck or something? He'd be responsible for the prince's death! And let's not forget that Tom was also crazy in love with him, theoretically seen, and really didn't want him to die.

Unlike Tom, Bill didn't look very worried, and climbed higher up the roof, pushing the tiles up so he had places to step as he went along. Tom was actually deeply impressed with him - he had never been on a roof before and had no idea how a roof system even worked, but the prince seemed to figure it out easily; had he ever done that before...? No, surely not... But apparently Bill was a lot more capable than Tom had initially given him credit for.

It wasn't long before the prince reached the damaged tile, and after a few moments figured out how to remove it and replace it with the new one.

"Heads up!" Bill called as he threw the broken tile away from the house where it landed somewhere in the middle of the grass outside their garden.

Just like he had gone up, the prince began crawling back down, closing the holes from the tiles as he did so, until he reached the ladder that Tom held for him until he was halfway down.

"Alright, where's the next leak?" Bill asked, almost enthusiastic.

"By the chimney..." Tom pointed at their chimney, and moved the ladder closer towards it while the prince fetched another tile.

Just like before, Bill crawled up to the broken tile and exchanged it before throwing it away into the grass close to the cottage, and then came back to the ladder.

"I saw the third leak - it's on the other side of the roof, also close to the chimney," Bill said as he climbed down the ladder that Tom held again until he was sure the ladder wouldn't fall over.

They moved to the other side of the house, and repeated the entire process.

"Seriously, how did you ever survive without me?" Bill mocked lightly once he jumped down the last two steps of the ladder, giving Tom a slightly conceited smirk.

"I really don't know," Tom said with a soft smile, taking the ladder back to the wood shack.

~*~

Bill looked after him, smiling faintly. There was something about that man... Or maybe it was the situation... Or both. Either way, Bill felt really good about himself, which was something he wasn't used to at all. Of course he was used to feeling amazing, but somehow... Somehow this was different. Despite having a terrible life, he felt really accomplished and very proud that he had managed to fix a roof. I mean seriously, that was really awesome – there weren't a lot of princes who had accomplished that. It was even better than cooking.

Once the man returned from the wood shack, he grabbed the bucket of milk and they went back inside. Bill felt a little awkward just standing there, not knowing what to say to him; they were on somewhat friendly ground right now, right? Should he be nice? Or say something snarky and just go away? Did he want to be on friendly ground with this man...? But that earlier had actually been kinda fun... and he felt really awesome that he had managed something that this man obviously wasn't so good at... Bill loved being better than others at things.

"Would you like some?" The minstrel asked, pouring the milk into two mugs and removing half a loaf of bread from his satchel.

Milk with bread... Well it was better than no breakfast at all, right?

Bill nodded, sitting down at the table with him; this was the first time they both sat at the table together and ate... It was almost civil.

"Thank you so much for fixing the roof. That was really great." The beggar commented while they ate, giving Bill a beautiful smile that nearly made him choke.

This man really seemed to appreciate him… He had even appreciate the disgusting soup last night. Bill swallowed thickly. Feeling appreciated wasn’t something he was used to, and it made him feel really incredible.

“Well don’t get used to it,” Bill said halfheartedly, though he couldn’t help but smile a bit.

“I would never.” The minstrel looked down at his food, but Bill didn’t miss him smiling, too.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, during which Bill contemplated asking the man’s name, but eventually chickened out, and the man got up to ready his things so he could leave again for the day.

“I shall see you tonight then,” he said gently as he slung his bag over his shoulder.

“Yeah,” Bill nodded slowly, still sitting at the table watching him.

“I hope you have a good day.” The minstrel smiled warmly before exiting the cottage and closing the door behind himself.

Bill sighed quietly into the empty room. It had actually been quite fun fixing the roof with the man, and now that he was gone again, Bill felt a bit lonely. Oddly enough, the beggars company was actually somewhat pleasant… Or at least it was better than being alone all day… The man seemed nice and patient, and was never upset – it was a nice change from his friends who were super impatient, bitchy, sarcastic, and constantly gossiping about irrelevant crap. Of course Bill had also been like that and it had never bothered him, but… now that he had met this man, he was beginning to redefine ‘pleasant company’.

Since the minstrel had already milked Goat, Bill was at a loss of what to do; it was too early to start cooking lunch, so what did peasants really do all day?

Bored, he looked around the messy, dirty cottage… Maybe he should clean up a bit? For the lack of anything better to do, not because he cared that the minstrel’s cottage was dirty, of course.

With a shrug, he grabbed the broom from the corner and began sweeping out all the dust, small wood splinters in front of the chimney, and so on. Speaking of chimneys, he should probably remove all the ashes from in there too, right?   
Next to the chimney was a small, iron shovel that he used to clean out all the ashes and remains from the fire, and dumped them on the compost; ashes were compostable, right?

After sweeping and cleaning the chimney, he proceeded to remove the countless, dust-covered cobwebs from the windows and corners; ew, spiders… Bill really hated spiders. He ended up removing only the old cobwebs that hosted no spiders, because he was too afraid to touch any others; who knew, maybe these spiders were poisonous… They might attack and kill him if he destroyed their webs.

By the time the cottage looked semi-decent, Bill was starving and decided to make himself a salad; had he used lettuce instead of cabbage yesterday…? Oh well, whatever. This time he turned the lettuce into a rather bland salad together with cucumbers and tomatoes. Of course they had no condiments, so salt had to do again… Food here was just blurgh.

However he did decide to try out another recipe for tonight when the minstrel came home; a stew. Maybe it would turn out better than the soup? He tried to ignore the fact that he was looking forward to the minstrel's return tonight, so he could try the stew and tell him that it was better than the awful soup he had made yesterday.   
When had he become addicted to being appreciated…? There was something really wrong here… 


	12. Chapter 12

“It was absolutely awesome!” Tom said excitedly as he began dueling with Georg. “I think this might actually work! Prince Bill was really nice today in the morning and aaaah! He’s so cute!” Tom swooned like a love-stricken idiot, but he just couldn’t help himself – Bill had been so perfect today in the morning – why couldn’t he always be like that?  
…Oh right, because he was an arrogant jerk. But not so today… Today had been wonderful.

“I’m very glad to hear that, your majesty.” Georg smiled amused as he easily avoided all of Tom’s rather pathetic strikes; but he just couldn’t concentrate on sword fighting right now.

“So how do we proceed from here then?” Gustav asked from his spot on the side of the small, round arena.

“Um… Well…” Tom said thoughtfully, trying not to get sliced into pieces by Georg. “I don’t know. But he’s making a lot of progress so we should probably just keep it like that for a while… Maybe I could spend some more time there? Do something with him so we can get to know each other better? What sorts of things to peasants do for fun?”

“Peasants don’t do anything for fun, my king,” Gustav said drily, fixing his glasses. “They are peasants. They work.”

“That’s all they do?” Tom asked a bit dismayed.

“Yes, that’s all they do. They work… then they have children and then they die.” Gustav said passively.

Tom gave him a disturbed look, and paid no attention to Georg’s sword that nearly cut his arm off. “AH! Geo!” Tom complained as the blade brushed against his arm.

“My king!” Georg cried in horror, rushing to his side to inspect the cut.

“I’m fine.” Tom dismissed with a wave of his hand after seeing that it was just a small scratch. “But what should I do with him then? We can’t just work all the time… That’s so exhausting… Seriously, that wood chopping made muscles hurt I didn’t even know I had.” Tom complained pathetically.

“You wanted to live like a peasant, now man up and do it.” Gustav said fiercely, earning a raised eyebrow from both Tom and Georg.

“Ahem. What I meant, your Majesty, is that there are plenty of other useful activities that are not physically so exhausting.” He added with a slight bow of his head.

“Yeah… what Gusti said.” Georg chuckled. “Winter is coming up and you guys should prepare for that.”

“Oh god, winter… No way. Before it gets too cold, I have to tell him who I really am because there is no way I’m going to spend winter in that cottage. It was cold enough last night… Though it gave us the perfect chance to cuddle, and then it was warm and nice and Bill was all…” Tom cleared his throat awkwardly as he noticed both his squires staring at him. “Anyway, I’m not spending winter there,” he stated firmly.

“Alright, but Bill doesn’t know that, so you guys should prepare for it anyway. You need to have enough chopped wood for-”

“Ugh, no! No chopping wood!” Tom interrupted Gustav, shaking his head.

“Yes. Chopping wood. Lots of it.” Gustav insisted firmly, and Tom had the disturbing impression that Gustav was enjoying his misery.

“Right, ok. So we have wood chopping… But there are also many other things you guys should do. For example harvesting. You guys need to store food for winter. Potatoes, cabbages, onions, carrots, turnips, apples and nuts. All that is available on the grounds by the cottage, you just need to harvest it and store it in the earth cellar under the wood shack.” Georg instructed.

“What’s an earth cellar…?” Tom asked meekly.

“It’s a cellar for fruits and vegetables that always has around the same temperature. It will keep the food from rotting in summer and from freezing in winter.” Gustav explained.

“And we have to collect fruits and vegetables and put them in there?!” Tom groaned.

“Yes. That’s what peasants do. Then they take it to the market so the people with more money can buy them.” Gustav said bleakly.

Tom knew this was a slightly sensitive subject for Gustav because, unlike most other people who lived and worked in the palace, he didn’t come from a wealthy family.

“Alright…” Tom nodded. “So we collect food and store it in the cellar… And we chop wood,” He groaned, “What else do we have to do?”

“A million things, but let’s stick with that for now.” Georg said before Gustav managed to reply; he seemed to be in a bit of a mood - Gustav was a bit touchy sometimes.

“Ok, ok. Fine… I can do this…” Tom nodded determined, returning to his duel with Georg.

 

~*~

“Come on, Goat, let’s go back home!” Bill called at Goat once he was done with his investigative afternoon stroll. Dinner was already cooked, and so Bill had decided to go out for a little walk with Goat to pass the time until the minstrel came home.

Goat stalked through the tall grass, and followed Bill up the small path through the woods towards their cottage. On his journey, Bill had encountered a few random berries and mushrooms, but they all looked very suspicious and he had no idea if they were edible, so he had just past them by; generally forests didn’t host anything interesting at all. They were full of dirt, trees and bugs… Gross.

Maybe tomorrow he should venture a little further and try to see if he could find the lake… Bill had no idea where they were, so he had made sure not to walk too far so he wouldn’t get lost, maybe tomorrow he should dare to go a bit farther.

Today he had waited with dinner, because for some odd reason he didn’t want to eat alone… He couldn’t really explain what was happening with him lately; maybe it was because he wasn’t used to being so lonely and it was slowly driving him nuts. Either way, he was really looking forward for the man to finally come back home again.   
For nearly a week already, the minstrel had been Bill’s only company, and the only person he could talk to; which for Bill was absolutely terrible because he was very social and usually talked like a waterfall, so not having anyone to communicate with was really beginning to get to him.

Once back at the cottage, he sat on the small bench next to the door, and waited. Goat kept him company. But talking to Goat just wasn't the same... Goat was more the strong, silent type.

~*~

As the cottage slowly came into view, Tom was surprised to see the prince sitting in front of the house, petting the goat and pulling petals off flowers; he looked really bored. Maybe he was finally lonely enough to talk to Tom…

The prince looked up for a second, but quickly looked away again as soon as he spotted Tom; was he waiting for him?

Excited, Tom walked a little quicker, and soon reached the small garden in which the goat was roaming freely, and Bill looked up a bit hesitantly. Tom felt really sorry for him; the poor prince was stuck here all day on his own, and probably really lonely, but obviously had great difficulty talking to a peasant… He looked really torn.

“Good evening,” Tom smiled gently; if Bill was too uncomfortable talking to him, then he would try to do the talking.

“Good evening,” Bill said slowly, getting up off the ground.

“Did you have a good day?” Tom asked, like every evening.

The prince shrugged. Well at least it wasn’t a _no_ …

Tom nodded with another smile, and headed inside, followed by the prince who looked a bit anxious.   
Stunned, Tom looked around the spotless cottage; who’d have thought this place could actually look nice?   
The dirt and dust from the floor was all gone, the dishes cleaned, the bed back where it belonged and neatly made, and the table had been cleaned and set for two people. Tom just stared in amazement, not really knowing what to say; had Bill really done all this? Why all of a sudden? Not that Tom didn't appreciate it, of course, he was just very surprised.

As he looked over at the prince, this one looked away and walked further into the cottage, looking a bit dismayed. Should Tom say something? Should he make a big deal out of it? It was a big deal but… Did the prince want it to be a big deal or not…?

In total silence and slightly downcast, Bill sat at the table, avoiding Tom’s gaze. Obviously he had expected a different reaction. But which one…? The prince had such heavy mood swings that Tom was scared to say the wrong thing… Not to mention Tom didn't know him well enough to know what would make him comfortable.

“It smells really good, I’m starving,” Tom lied with a bright smile; he wasn’t actually very hungry because he had eaten a bit, since he hadn’t known whether Bill would cook or not, and the smell was... Well...

The prince looked up and smiled hesitantly, serving them both some really disgusting looking… something or other.

Tom gulped quietly, sitting down at the table; one of these days this food was going to kill him.

“It looks really nice here. I never managed to make it look that nice,” he said cautiously while Bill placed the bowl of food in front of him.

The prince just nodded and made a non-committal sound, but he looked a lot happier than before, so obviously this had been the right path.

“How was your day?” Bill asked awkwardly, as he began eating.

“Not bad,” Tom said gently, carefully trying a bit of food; it was actually alright. Far from good, but also not as disgusting as yesterday. Baby steps.

Bill nodded and they ate in silence while Tom tried to come up with something to say; how was he ever going to get to know the prince better if they couldn’t talk?

“I was thinking of staying at home for a few days to do some work here…” Tom said slowly; maybe he should check if this was ok with the prince before really deciding on it. “I need to get ready for the winter, and I was hoping that perhaps you wanted to help me?” He had given up on saying ‘we’, because obviously Bill didn’t really like that.

The prince gave him a skeptical look.

~*~

Bill was debating with himself what to say right now; it was very nice of the man to ask for his help rather than demanding it – Bill liked that, and obviously the beggar wasn’t the most talented of people, if today in the morning was any indication, so maybe he should agree… It had been quite fun… and if the man stayed around for a bit, Bill wouldn’t be so alone…

“Help you with what?” Bill finally asked.

“Oh um… Well I need to chop wood for heating, and harvest food for the winter,” the minstrel said slowly, obviously well aware that this was not a fun activity.

“I’ll think about it,” Bill said rather coldly, despite that he had already made up his mind about definitely wanting to help him but not wanting him to know that. It’s not like Bill had anything to do all day anyway, so maybe it would be nice… Maybe they could get to know each other a bit better… Did he even want to know that man better? But he had always been so nice… He might be the nicest person Bill had ever met. But of course he was also a filthy peasant who was sooo beneath him... Right?

“Thank you,” the minstrel smiled warmly. “It tastes really good, by the way.” He added quietly as he continued eating.

Bill’s stomach fluttered lightly at the man’s words and he couldn’t help a smile.

 

The remaining evening passed in silence while Bill read and the minstrel cleaned the dishes, until they lay down by the time the fire was already burning low, and the man murmured a quiet ‘goodnight’.

Bill stared at the wall in front of him, feeling the other man’s body resting behind him; he was still a bit nervous every time they lay in bed together, and wasn’t sure if he should answer; if he did, would the man think he was being too friendly? Bill didn’t want to be friendly with him in bed………. And they were sharing the blanket again too… That couldn’t be good, right?

Eventually he mumbled, “Goodnight,” and waited for a reaction, but there was none.

They had already been married for an entire week, and so far the man had still not demanded anything from him… How long would that last though? Sooner or later the minstrel would want to consummate their marriage, right? What would Bill do then…? He was actually terrified of that happening – despite him now getting along a bit better with the man – just because they spoke a few words, didn’t mean he wanted to give himself to him… But what would the man do if Bill refused him? He seemed really nice but… would he still be if Bill refused to follow on his duties? It wasn’t a big secret that violence often followed a marriage if one of the people involved refused to follow their marital duties…   
What if, once Bill began to be more friendly, the man would demand that…? Maybe it would be better if they just remained hating each other? Perhaps if Bill was really nasty, the minstrel would stay away from him…

 

 

 

 

 


	13. Chapter 13

Lazily, Bill yawned and stretched, blinking into the bright light that shone in through the window. It took him a few moments to remember that yesterday the minstrel had said he would maybe stay home… Had he?

Sitting up, Bill looked around, but there was no minstrel anywhere. Oddly disappointed, he got up and put his coat on to go outside to milk Goat.

“Goat! Where are you?” Bill called as he came out of the cottage.

Goat bleated and came around the back of the cottage from where Bill could hear random sounds; was the minstrel back there? Goat had already been milked today too…

Slowly he walked around to the back where the wood shack was, and indeed he saw him there, chopping and stacking wood.

“Good morning, Bill. Did you sleep well?” The man asked as he saw him approaching.

“As well as anyone can sleep on that crap of a bed…” Bill muttered darkly. He was actually in a good mood, but unsure whether it was wise to let the man know… He still hadn’t forgotten his scary thoughts from last night… Things were moving too fast for his comfort.

The man’s earlier smile faded, and with a nod, he looked back at his work.

Bill felt a stab of guilt; it wasn’t the minstrel's fault that he had nothing better… The bed was just as uncomfortable for him as it was for Bill, after all… But Bill was still undecided whether it was a good idea to be nice to him or not. Of course the man had never been anything but generous and kind – he’d never said a single harsh word or had any kind of violent behavior – maybe he wasn’t the kind of man who would force someone else to do his will…? Did men like that even exist…? Aside from Bill himself, of course, who would never ever do something like that because he was a sappy romantic who wanted candles and roses and chocolate, but… most other men were not like that, and Bill was very aware of that fact.

Critically, he watched the minstrel working; yesterday he’d told him that he would think about helping him… Should he? It looked so exhausting… and it was promising to be a really hot day - bad combination for physical work.

“Want some help?” Bill asked reluctantly.

The man looked up, a bit surprised, and then smiled brightly. “I would love some.”

Bill smiled a bit, and began picking up the chopped wood pieces to stack them in the shack; it's not like he had anything better to do anyway.

~*~

Tom groaned mentally, feeling blisters forming on his hands; being poor absolutely sucked. But Bill was helping him – that was so worth a few blisters.

The prince seemed a bit cranky; what had happened? Last night it seemed to be going fine… Why was he in such a bad mood again? Somehow Tom had the impression that Bill deliberately wanted to be in a bad mood… Sometimes he forgot about it and was in a good mood, but as soon as he remembered that he hated Tom, he was back to being in a bad mood.

  
~*~

Carrying wood around was absolutely exhausting, and it was approaching midday so the sun was burning down without mercy; Bill was almost sweating already. _'Ew, gross._ '   
He had removed his coat earlier, and rolled up his sleeves, but it was still very hot. Thank god he only had to carry the wood, and not chop it...

After stacking what he'd carried in, for the millionth time, he returned back outside just in time to see the peasant removing his shirt. Bill stopped dead in his tracks, staring as the man pulled the loose garment over his head, revealing his muscular upper body; maybe following on his marital duties wouldn't be as bad as he thought...

Bill had never actually seen anyone half naked, other than himself of course, but that really couldn't be compared to this man, because Bill was scrawny and skinny, so unlike the minstrel who began chopping wood again, which caused all the muscles in his body to flex visibly with each movement. Bill couldn't keep himself from gaping. He had never seen a more perfect person in his life; most people at court were more on the... plump side since they didn't do any kind of physical work and ate all the time... Who'd have thought being a peasant had its perks.

 _'Damn,'_ Bill thought as he slowly approached the man again, supposedly because he wanted to get more wood, but actually more so because he wanted to take a closer look. On his right upper arm there was a bandage; had he hurt himself somewhere?

Innocently, Bill crouched down to stack wood into his arms, which gave him the perfect chance to view the minstrel from a lower angle that perfectly showed off his sweaty muscles every time he struck down with the axe.

Bill groaned mentally as he got back up to carry the wood over to the shack; did that man know how good he looked? Why was he always wearing those filthy clothes? If it were up to Bill, he'd have the beggar running around half naked all day. Every day. Forever.

 _'Pull yourself together, Bill!'_ He mentally slapped himself. _'Haven't you ever seen a hot guy before?!'_ The answer to that was no, but still. Was he really so superficial that he suddenly liked the man so much just because of the way he looked?  
_'He's also really nice and generous, though, so I totally liked him before I knew he looked like a god.'_ Bill tried to justify. Wait... he had liked him before that...?

~*~

This was, by far, the most exhausting morning of Tom's life; his hands, arms and back ached, and he was so exhausted he wanted to pass out; he hadn’t eaten any breakfast, only had a bit of milk, and it was nearly lunch time.

Exhausted, he placed the axe down and wiped his forehead with his arm, waiting until Bill returned from the wood shack. Bill had worked the entire morning without complaint, which had impressed Tom greatly because he had believed the prince would start complaining after only 5 minutes of this terrible work, but apparently there was more to Bill than first met the eye.

“Are you hungry?” Tom asked as the prince came back outside.

“Yes, I’m starving.” Bill nodded immediately, and they headed back into the house that didn't actually contain any food – great. Now what?

It was only now that Tom realized he was standing half naked in front of the prince. Suddenly he felt utterly self-conscious; of course he often walked around shirtless in front of people like Georg or Gustav, but with Bill it was something else... Bill was... different. And Tom felt super awkward. Oh why had he left his shirt outside?!

Too late now - if he went to get it, it would be really ridiculous, so the only thing he could do was pretend he didn't care.

"I'm going to cook something," Tom said determined, having absolutely no idea how to do that, but really wanting to do something because standing around half-naked was just humiliating. Especially because he had always been quite shy when it came to that sort of thing.

Bill raised an unimpressed eyebrow, crossing his arms and then sitting down at the table, crossing his legs and watching him expectantly. Obviously he had no intention to help this time. Well that would be interesting. And there was something very unsettling in the way the prince was suddenly looking at him...

Humiliated and feeling like an idiot, Tom read over the recipes Gustav had gotten for them, not even understanding half the things written there. Well that settled it: Bill was an absolute genius for having managed to make something that resembled a soup from this scrap of paper.

Tom decided on the easiest looking recipe. "How about this?" He asked the prince, holding the piece of paper up for him to see.

"I made that yesterday," Bill said haughtily.

"And it was great. Shall we- I make it again?" He quickly corrected himself; obviously the prince noticed because his eyebrow twitched.

"Go ahead," he said with a rather cold smile and a challenging look; did he know that Tom didn't know how to cook either?

Tom groaned mentally as he grabbed the basket to go outside for the vegetables – half of which he didn't even know, and hopefully to put his shirt back on.

The vegetable garden only had green stuff in it. Which ones did he need? How had Bill figured this out?!   
After quickly putting his shirt back on, he turned to look at the prince who had followed him outside and was now casually leaning with his hands on the small, wooden fence of the vegetable patch, watching him with a taunting smirk. That prince could be so mean sometimes.

Sighing in defeat, Tom gave him a weak smile. "Give me a hint as to which the potatoes are?"

"Why don't you know that? Didn't you plant them?" The prince raised an eyebrow, though he didn't look surprised; how did he know that Tom was useless at this?

"No..." Tom said slowly, his mind racing for an excuse as to why that wasn't so. What kind of a peasant didn't know what a potato plant looked like?!

"I... don't really do these things so much. I'm usually doing other stuff," he said stupidly.

"Like what? Fixing the roof?" The prince smirked again. It was impossible to say whether he was upset and trying to be nasty, or if he was just entertained and teasing him.

Tom sighed again. "Alright... the truth is that I just moved here. I usually just play the lute and move from town to town. I'm not a farmer... I'm just a minstrel."

Bill gave him a critical look, apparently weighing his options, before he shrugged. "Fine. I'll help you. But just this once!"

"Thank you. Very generous of you." Tom smiled happily as the prince jumped over the fence.

"Yeah. You would so starve without me." He said conceitedly.

"I would." Tom agreed with a quiet smile that wasn't lost on the prince who almost smiled back but then quickly turned his head away.

With Bill's rather bossy instructions, they managed to make a stew that tasted almost exactly like yesterday evening's, and Tom was actually very proud of Bill; the prince really seemed to be getting the hang of this whole peasant life – a lot more than Tom who felt really useless. Despite being a bit sarcastic and snarky, Bill seemed to be on friendly terms with him today though, so Tom tried to be as pleasant as possible; being nice really seemed to work on Bill who was a natural born jerk. Would he ever be any different...?

  
After their lunch, they headed back outside, still in total silence; there were so many things Tom wanted to say, but he didn't really know how without it being dumb.

The Gs had told him that it was around potato season, and the earth cellar under the wood shack contained baskets and crates where they could put whatever they harvested, so Tom decided to try that out.   
The earth cellar was rather large, with plenty of space and different storage methods, including shelves, boxes, barrels and crates.

"What are we doing down here?" Bill asked, poking his head through the opening that led down into the cellar.

"I'm just getting a few baskets so we- I can harvest stuff." Tom explained, grabbing a few round, stacked basket and carrying them up.

"What are you going to harvest?" The prince asked skeptically.

"I thinking cabbage and potatoes? I think the carrots aren't fully grown yet..." Tom said slowly, shrugging a bit.

"Uh-huh," Bill said pointedly, crossing his arms in front of his chest, apparently to indicate he wouldn't be carrying any baskets.

~*~

Why did the man have to put his shirt back on? Seriously... he looked so much better without it. Bill wanted to pout.

The minstrel carried the baskets over to the vegetable garden, while Bill watched, still fantasizing about those lickable abs the man had so selfishly hidden again. It wasn’t as if Bill would really be that superficial – well maybe a little bit – but he did know there were more important things than looks… But that guy still looked completely delicious! _‘And he’s really nice so I’m allowed to be superficial._ ’ Bill tried to justify again. Since when were such nice guys also amazingly hot? Bill had met many good-looking people before – maybe not _as_ good looking – but they had all been conceited and nasty… Like Bill himself.

Idly, he watched as the minstrel began digging up potatoes. Should he help him? But Bill was still pouting due to the lack of exposed skin from the man…

Lazily, he leaned against the fence again, watching as the man dug around in the dirt; it should actually gross him out because… dirt and stuff, but somehow right now it seemed really alluring. There was something seriously wrong with him. Was he suddenly developing a crush on his husband? That was so wrong…

~*~

Tom was very aware of the prince’s eyes on him, and it made him a bit self-conscious; what was Bill staring at the whole time? He was behaving so weird today.

It was only by the time Tom had nearly finished filling up one basket, that he prince decided to join him, daintily pulling potato plants out of the ground and separating the weed from the vegetable.

The process of potato harvesting was slow and dirty, and by the time the sun sunk below the trees, they were both exhausted and covered in dirt.

“Should we go down to the stream to wash?” Tom asked once he stood up, eyeing the four baskets they had filled; they looked so heavy and he didn’t want to carry them down to the cellar on his own… Would the prince help him? Maybe tomorrow?

“Yeah, sure.” Bill agreed, following him down the narrow dirt path to the small river by the edge of the forest.

Once they got there, however, Tom realized what a bad idea that had been; they were both covered in sweat and dirt, and he actually wanted to jump in to clean himself off completely, but that was out of the question now… Maybe he should go back to the palace tomorrow to take a bath…

As he reached down to wash his hands, he realized how freezing the water was; definitely palace. Now he really pitied the prince who had to wash himself with this freezing water every day; Tom would die. He hated cold water.

Obviously they were both a bit self-conscious, and simply washed their hands before returning to the cottage to eat what was left of their lunch, together with some dry bread. Tom couldn’t wait to finally tell Bill who he was so that they could stop this dreadful charade and move to the palace where they had delicious food, comfortable beds and warm baths.

 

 

 

 


	14. Chapter 14

  
As Tom slowly awoke the next morning, the first thing he felt were all his muscles aching as if someone had beaten him half to death yesterday. He groaned softly as he tried to sit up, feeling like a 95-year-old man; this peasant life would be the death of him.

Next to him, the prince was still sleeping soundly, and Tom wondered if he would also feel yesterday's work once he woke up. He should probably let him sleep – yesterday had been so exhausting.

Quietly, he got up from the bed and headed outside, massaging his aching shoulders and arms. Of course soon he realized that had been a bad idea because his hands were completely sore as well; he had various blisters on his palms and the entire skin was tender and raw. There was no way he could work like that today again – he needed a break. Maybe he should just go to the palace before the prince woke up... But no, that was a bad idea, he couldn't do that to Bill.   
Despite the prince having some rather odd mood swings, and went back and forth between being almost friendly and then really cold again, Tom was sure they were making progress and really didn't want to do the wrong thing right now.

"But I'm in so much pain and I smell and I'm tired and hungry and I hate this place!" Tom whined miserably at the goat who came by to be milked.

The goat bleated loudly, obviously not very sympathetic with Tom's troubles.

Tiredly, he began milking the goat, each movement making him groan internally; when had it become so hard to milk the goat...?!

Physical labor really wasn't something Tom was used to, despite always having been quite fit – but this was a whole new level of physical exertion. It couldn't be compared to horseback riding, sword fighting and fencing. Or any other physical activity he was used to.

Shortly after finishing milking, even before Tom had found the strength to get up, the prince suddenly trudged out of the cottage.

"I'm never working another day in my life," Bill complained dully, sitting down on the bench next to the door. "I think I'm going to die."

The prince looked oddly... not angry, given the circumstances, so Tom carefully approached him, watching for any signs of anger.

"I'm sorry," Tom apologized softly, "I should have known it was too much yesterday – we shouldn't have worked so hard on just one day... How about we take a day off?" Was he allowed to use 'we' in a positive sense...?

Bill squinted sleepily up at him and scrunched up his nose in displeasure. "A day off? From what? Being poor?" He asked despondently.

Tom sighed, sitting down on the bench next to him, though making sure not to sit too close to make him feel uncomfortable. As terrible as all this was for Tom, he suddenly became painfully aware that it was a million times worse for the prince who believed that this was all real; in case of emergency, Tom knew he could always return to the palace – he had food, shelter and medical care there, should he need it – but Bill... Bill thought this was the life they would always lead, and he was probably very scared of the future he had ahead...   
These were all things that Tom hadn't really considered before bringing the prince here; the truth was that he had just been very upset because Bill had, not only turned him down, but also ridiculed him so much, and he really wanted to teach him a lesson, but... maybe he'd overdone it.

What if this had all been a huge mistake, and he was actually doing more bad than good for the prince? Bill was probably scarred for life... What if he would hate Tom once he found out the truth...?

"Bill..." Tom began slowly, "I um...." He had to tell him. He had to explain things and apologize because this whole thing had been a terrible mistake, and pray that Bill would forgive him. "I'm ki-"

"I know," Bill suddenly cut him off with a soft smile. "It's not your fault we're poor. I'm sorry."

Tom stared at him in disbelief. "What?" He mumbled stupidly.

"I'm just really exhausted from yesterday and I don't think I can work that much today... A day off sounds really wonderful. We could just... I don't know... Hang out a bit and... go for a walk with Goat maybe?" Bill finished feebly, fidgeting around with his hands that he was staring down at, before looking up between his messy, dirty hair that really needed a wash, and gave Tom a hopeful smile.

This really wasn't what Tom had had in mind but... What was that smile? It was really different from all the condescending smirks he was used to from the prince... Could it be that maybe it hadn't been such a bad idea after all? Was this actually working?

"Sounds good." Tom smiled back warily, fearing his smile might scare the prince back into being a jerk.

"Besides..." Bill muttered a bit embarrassed, "I really need some time to clean myself up. How the hell do you always manage to be so clean?!" He burst out with the last sentence, staring at Tom expectantly.

Of course the only reason Tom was always clean was because he got cleaned up at the palace every day... But of course he couldn't say that.

"We have a wooden tub in the shack, we can fill it up with hot water and you can take a bath." Tom offered, not knowing what to tell the prince as to how he himself was always clean.

"Really?" Bill's face lit up happily.

"Yeah, I'll go get it." Tom said immediately, happy Bill had forgotten his earlier question.

"Need some help? It's heavy, right?" The prince said awkwardly, looking away a bit. Why did Bill have trouble offering others help?

"That would be great, thank you," Tom said softly, heading towards the shack, with the prince trailing behind him.   
Did Bill think his help wasn't wanted? Was he too arrogant to offer others help, but was now slowly coming down from it?

"We'll have to clean it a bit," Tom said slowly as they reached the old, wooden tub. It was filled with all sorts of random things – garden tools, jute bags, plant pots, and countless other things Tom didn't even have names for.

"Have you ever even used this...?" Bill asked doubtfully.

"No," Tom said dully. "But now's the perfect moment for it." He added with a bright smile.

The prince gave off one quiet little chuckle. "You always just jump into the river? I washed myself there the other day – it was so cold I almost died. I don't think I will ever be able to do that again..." He said meekly.

"Oh, yeah. I'm used to it." Tom lied awkwardly; he was nowhere near tough enough to jump into a cold river every day, but Bill didn't need to know that.

"I think I'd rather use the tub..." Bill smiled a bit embarrassed and gave him an uncertain glance as they began removing all the random things from it.

"Actually I think so would I." Tom admitted with a soft laugh. "The river really is freezing..." After all, if he would be spending more time here than in the palace, it meant he also had to wash himself here, and actually jumping into the river was out of the question.

~*~

Bill smiled quietly at himself; obviously the peasant was just trying to make him feel less pathetic, and he really appreciated it. Especially because had it been the other way around, Bill would have told him to suck it up and bathe in the cold river like everyone else did...

After having removed all the random objects from the tub, they dragged it towards the cottage; it was actually very heavy, and Bill was glad he had agreed to help the minstrel who also looked a bit worn out from yesterday. Obviously days like that were also new to him. Was this life as new and exhausting and terrible for the minstrel as it was for Bill? Well maybe not  _as_  bad as it was for Bill, but... At least he wasn't used to them and having a hard time too. It made Bill feel a bit better.

They poured water from the well into the dirty tub and began scrubbing it down. Despite it being really gross work, Bill found himself enjoying the activity. All these sorts of random things were ones he had never done with anyone before, because all things he usually did back in the palace were mundane, 'fun' activities that were actually totally useless. Of course back then they had entertained him, actually unlike the activities they did here, but there was just something about doing useful things, that brought out a nice outcome.   
Usually he just did whatever he wanted and walked away whenever he got bored, but these things... these were different. They had a purpose behind them, and Bill found that he really liked that. He loved being useful all of a sudden – something he had never known before coming here.

And about 10 minutes later, the tub was all clean and Bill smiled satisfied at their outcome. Especially because now he could finally take a bath!

"Shall we take it inside?" the man smiled, apparently also satisfied with their work.

"Yes!" Bill smiled enthusiastically, and they hauled the heavy tub into the cottage, where it now stood in the middle of the room.

"I'll set up some water to boil. Then we can have breakfast while it's heating up," the minstrel said as he went back outside to grab water from the well.

Bill smiled after him; there was something about him... And it wasn't just his delicious body...

With a quiet giggle, Bill began to make fire, his thoughts wandering back to yesterday. Once he was feeling better again, they should definitely chop more wood. But only on really hot days.

While the large pot on the oven was heating up, Bill helped the minstrel carry more buckets of cold water to fill the tub. They filled about 1/3 of it, and another third with the hot water; Bill had no idea that taking a bath was so complicated. Usually he just snapped his fingers and 10 minutes later he could step into a large tub filled with hot, bubbly water... Why was life so complicated?

After the first pot had boiled, they dumped the hot water into the tub that was beginning to get warm, but still wasn't warm enough for Bill's taste, so they set up another pot to boil and ate breakfast while they waited.

"I have to go to the kingdom tomorrow to buy some more bread. Would you like to come?" The minstrel asked as he began cleaning away their dishes. Their breakfast had consisted of goat milk and bread again.

"No. Thanks," Bill smiled awkwardly. There was no way he would ever go to that kingdom... It belonged to King Thrushbeard, after all, and Bill would avoid that place at all costs.

"Alright." The man smiled with a nod. "I'll also buy some more soap..." He added slowly as he eyed the soap that Bill placed on the bench next to the tub.

"That would be great," Bill laughed bit. "Do we have a towel or something...?" He asked slowly, wondering how he should dry himself off.

"Yeah." The man nodded, retrieving an old, ragged towel from one of the drawers, before returning to the cupboard to search through it for something.

A minute later he came back with a straight razor and its accessories, that he placed on top of the towel. Bill stared at it for a second; oh yeah, he really needed to shave... But... that had always been done by his barber... He would probably end up slitting his throat with that knife.

Warily, he opened the knife and ran his thumb over the sharp blade, nearly cutting himself.

~*~

Tom didn't miss the freaked out expression on the prince's face as he inspected the knife; obviously the prince left his grooming to a barber – unlike Tom who really didn't like people fumbling around his throat with knives, and had always preferred to do that himself.

"Do you know how to use that?" Tom asked in his most understanding, patient voice.

"Of course I do," the prince said immediately, snapping the knife shut and placing it back on the towel.

' _Oh great,’_ Tom thought drily; the prince was too arrogant to admit he didn't know how to shave, and would probably end up injuring himself... 

 


	15. Chapter 15

“Oh. I just thought… Since you have a barber in the palace and all…” Tom tried carefully.

“I’m not as useless as you think!” Bill suddenly snapped angrily.

“I never thought you were,” Tom said quietly. “You’ve proven to be a lot more capable than me, and no one can be good at everything.”

The prince didn’t say anything, and just stared defiantly at his feet. Was he always struggling with himself so much? Was his arrogance really so strong that it forbade him to be nice and helpful? Of course admitting to not knowing how to do something as simple as shaving, was probably worse, but then again… Tom knew plenty of men at court who had never touched a razor in their life, so it wasn’t really that big a deal.

Tom sighed; this was ridiculous. “I didn’t know how to do that for a long time either, and my dad always did it for me, but one day I had to learn because my dad refused to do it any longer.” He lied; he had actually learned that very young because the barber always made him nervous; and of course his father had never been involved in it, but whatever.

“Really?” Bill said meekly, giving him an unsure look.

“Yes.” Tom smiled gently. “If you want, I can show you.” He offered.

The prince looked very indecisive.

~*~

So he had two choices right now: he could tell the beggar to go to hell because he could do it himself, despite the man obviously knowing he was lying, or he could just… not say anything and accept his help, which would probably be the smarter option…

“All right,” Bill finally sighed, turning his head away in humiliation; he had just admitted to not being able to do something… That was terrible. What was wrong with him? Bill gave him an uncertain glance, expecting a snarky comment regarding his earlier lie, but none ever came.

“Okay,” The minstrel agreed with a smile, taking a mug and putting the shaving soap in it. “First we wet the brush with hot water, but make sure to flick it off because too much water isn’t good. Then we mix the soap thoroughly until we have creamy, thick lather.” He explained slowly while doing all that, and Bill paid close attention so he’d be able to do it himself next time; he had seen his barber doing this a million times, but he had never paid any attention to it before.

Once the foam was done, the man set it aside and hung the strop on the chair next to him. “It’s most comfortable if you always strop the knife between shaves, because it hones it and lets you shave easier. It’s really easy – you just pull the strop tight, because otherwise it won’t hone well, and start off at the end away from you.” The man indicated what he was talking about, and slowly stropped the razor first towards him, and then away from him.

“The blade always faces away from the direction you’re moving in. And make sure you hold it like this, or you might cut yourself.” He added, indicating how to hold the knife at the handle with his thumb and index finger on the base of the blade. Bill just nodded.

“Once we’re done with that, you just hold it like this to begin shaving,” he explained patiently, holding his hand with the razor up so Bill could see it.

After Bill nodded, the man lay the knife down and took the mug with the foam. “Shall I?” He asked in his ever nice way.

Bill nodded again, resting his head against the backrest of the chair while the man first placed the towel around his neck and then applied the foam to his face, just the way Bill’s barber usually did.

“Make sure that you use enough foam, or it’s really uncomfortable,” the minstrel informed him once he was done and set the mug aside, taking the razor back in his hand.

“Always shave in the direction of the hair growth, and try to hold it at approximately this angle – a good 30 degrees or so. If you hold it too steep, you might cut yourself, and if you don’t hold it steep enough, you won’t be able to shave well. But don’t worry, that comes with practice.” He assured Bill who was looking a bit confused.

“Use slow, even strokes, and don’t apply any pressure to it because that can cause small cuts. If the razor doesn’t shave well anymore, just hone it, but don’t press down on it because it will just irritate your skin.” The minstrel indicated the amount of pressure by one, slow, even stroke down Bill’s cheek, and then wiped it off on the rag before stropping it and repeating the entire process.

While the peasant was busy shaving him, Bill had plenty of time to take a very close look at the man’s surprisingly gentle features. He had a beautiful bone structure, and his skin was very well kept for the one of a beggar. His hair, despite in a messy bun, was also very neat at a close look – no split ends or anything else that may indicate to bad care. His hands were also well kept, maybe not as soft and delicate as Bill’s, mainly due to the callouses on his fingertips that came from playing the lute, but still surprisingly neat for a peasant  
The man had deep, dark brown eyes similar to Bill’s own, that were decorated with long, curved lashes, and his lips looked alarmingly kissable. Of course the sudden realization of that made Bill nearly shriek, given he was thinking about a peasant and all, but if one overlooked the man’s dirty clothes and the very obtrusive fact that he was a beggar, he was actually quite attractive… Not just by body and face, but also by personality. With a bit of cleaning up and some nice clothes, the man could probably pass off as nobility.

Bill had never actually met a beggar before; he barely ever left the palace, and if, then only accompanied by guards and servants who made sure no peasants got anywhere near him so he had always believed peasants to be utterly disgusting, vile creatures that he never wanted to encounter, but somehow this man seemed to be none of those things.   
Could it be that he was wrong? About a tremendous amount of things…?

“All done,” the man finished with a smile, wiping the knife on the, meanwhile, foamy kitchen rag.

“Thanks,” Bill mumbled quietly, wiping the remains of the foam off his clean face with the towel. The beggar had done a surprisingly good job… Almost as good as he royal barber always did.

The man just smiled, and then poured the last pot of boiling water into Bill’s bath. “I’ll be outside then.” He said quietly as he left the house.

“If you come inside, I swear I’ll kill you! And don’t you dare peek in through a window or I’ll stab your eyeballs out!” Bill snapped, suddenly paranoid. He would be sitting in a bathtub, naked, and there was no lock on their door… And no curtains… Oh god.

The man looked a bit taken aback by Bill’s sudden outburst, and nodded before disappearing; Bill felt guilty immediately. Maybe he should have said that in slightly nicer words…

With a defeated sigh, Bill shed his clothes and then stepped into the warm water that felt like heaven against his dirty, sweaty, disgusting-feeling skin. He couldn’t remember ever enjoying a bath more, and sighed for a completely different reason as he closed his eyes and let the warmth soak into his skin.

~*~

Tom sighed, sitting on the bench next to the door; he didn’t really dare go anywhere because there were windows on all sides of the cottage, and he didn’t want to go against the prince’s wishes. Or his threats…

 

It was almost an hour later, when the prince finally came out of the cottage – black-blond hair shiny and clean, and dressed in the clothes he had worn when he first came here, except he’d left out the fancy coat.

“Hey,” Bill said slowly, looking down at him.

“Hey.” Tom smiled back, astounded at the prince’s beauty which was so visible now that he was all clean and shaved.

Bill cleared his throat a bit and looked away awkwardly. “Sorry about that comment earlier… I just…”

“You’re used to your privacy.” Tom said helpfully.

The prince gave him a wary glance and a small smile. “Yeah…” He muttered quietly.

Tom smiled with a nod. “I’ll try not to interrupt it.”

“Thanks,” Bill nodded, still looking a bit awkward. “Um… shall we fix up another bath?” He continued after a moment of silence.

“That’d be great.” Tom grinned cheerfully; did Bill really want to help him? With something that was solely intended for someone else’s benefit?

Apparently he did, because they carried out the buckets of dirty, soapy water while new one began heating on the fire that had nearly gone out while Bill had been bathing.   
Once the cold water was all in and they waited for the rest to heat up, Tom starting cleaning up the slight mess Bill had left in their cottage; there was water all over the floor, his dirty clothes were lying around and the old towel had been carelessly dumped somewhere on the floor.

After watching for a few moments, the prince decided to help him by picking up his clothes and the towel; he looked a bit embarrassed, and avoided Tom’s gaze, the way he always did while working. Why was Bill humiliated by doing work? Didn’t he know that it was a good thing?   
Despite growing up like the future king of his country, Tom’s parents had always made sure he picked up his mess, that he was friendly and generous with people, and that he learned daily things such as cleaning himself and his surroundings; alright, so he didn’t know how to cook or something elaborate like that, but at least he wasn’t as messy as the prince seemed to be… Obviously his parents had allowed him every sort of behavior and every vice, turning him into a snobby, spoiled brat.

Despite that though, the prince really seemed to be trying, and Tom had to give him credit for that. By nature, he was far more talented than Tom, and he was a quick learned who had proved himself more than capable of handling things, if given the chance; maybe it was a chance he had never gotten in the palace.

“I thought I’d make another stew today… That seemed to have worked pretty well, right?” Tom asked once they were done cleaning the mess; he was getting a bit hungry and the water would still take a bit before it was hot.

“Yeah, we could do that,” the prince agreed with a nod. Tom stared at him; had he really said ‘ _we’_ or had he misheard him?

“I thought I could try some of those weird herbs and spices… Do you know any of them?” Bill carried on, obviously not noticing what he’d said.

“I’m afraid I don’t, but if you want, we could try putting in a few and see what happens?” Tom shrugged, carefully testing out the evil word.

Bill nodded. “Yeah, let’s do that. It’s not like it can taste any worse, right?” He added with a quiet laugh.

It was the first time Tom had ever heard him laugh, and for a moment he completely forgot to breathe.

Luckily Bill didn’t notice, because he continued talking about food, and soon enough they began preparing the stew that they set up to boil as soon as the water for Tom’s bath was all done.

“Ok, I’ll be outside…” Bill mumbled with one last glance back at Tom before exiting the cottage.

Tom removed his dirty clothes, which he folded neatly on the bench, and then stepped into the tub, resting his head against the board for a few minutes before actually washing himself. The heat from the water did wonders to his aching muscles.

~*~

For the tenth time, Bill sighed. He’d only been sitting outside the cottage for about 5 minutes, but he was already dying of boredom. And there was also the fact that inside the guy was bathing… naked… and wet… and… Bill stared at his feet, trying to think of something else. Should he take a peek? The window was just a few feet away from him… He could skid along the bench a little bit and take just one tiny quick peek inside the cottage.   
Should he dare…? But what if the man saw him?

Bill gave a quiet, indignant whine. He really wanted to look… ‘ _Just one tiny little peek…_ ’


	16. Chapter 16

 

Almost shaking with nervousness and excitement, Bill slowly slid across the bench, towards the window, where he paused with his face just inches away from it; should he really?

Very slowly, he moved just a tiny bit further until he could peek in with one eye. The minstrel was lying in the tub, his eyes closed and feet dangling out on one side; he looked very relaxed, almost asleep.

Since the man's eyes were closed, Bill decided to look with his other eye as well; not that he could see much of the man, since most was hidden by the tub, but still.

It wasn't long before the peasant moved, reaching for the soap and sitting up in the tub. Bill felt compelled to hide for a moment, but since the man was looking the other way, he decided it was probably safe. Or as safe as spying on someone who was bathing could be.

The minstrel soaped his hands thoroughly, before moving to his hair which he carefully soaped until it was all foamy. His eyes were closed, and he slowly let his hands glide down his neck, to his shoulders, chest, and upper arms.   
Bill watched with an open jaw, wondering if he himself looked that sensual while washing; probably not.

The man turned a bit, lifting his body a bit further out of the tub and giving Bill a perfect view of his upper body, which he was soaping in an almost teasing manner. All of his movements were amazingly slow and thorough as he traced his hands lazily over his abs and pectorals, keeping the lower half of his body barely below the water line, exactly so Bill was unable to see what was below his abdomen; it was almost exasperating.

For various minutes, the man washed every inch of his visible body so agonizingly slow that Bill thought he would go crazy. He had never seen anyone bathing before, least of all in a manner like this, and it made him all giddy; his hands were a bit sweaty and he generally felt extremely hot, though not due to the warm sun shining down on him.   
He gulped loudly as the man suddenly reached below the water to wash his... other parts that were hidden from Bill's view. Just like with the rest of his body, the peasant took his sweet time with that too, until Bill was unsure whether he was still washing himself or doing something entirely different.

His eyes widened a bit at the thought and he felt his cheeks heating up; was he seriously watching the man doing something so intimate...?!   
For the first time in quite a while, he let his eyes travel up to the man's face; his eyes were still closed, his head tilted backwards a bit and his lips parted ever so slightly. The entire image was by far the most erotic thing Bill had ever seen in his life, and he was completely unable to tear his eyes away from it, burning the picture into his mind.

Suddenly and without warning, the man turned around and stepped out of the tub. Bill nearly fell off the bench as he tried to sit up properly again, and hid from the window, breathing shakily. He clenched his fists and tried to calm himself down; what was he doing?!  
Now that the image of the man wasn't in front of his face anymore, he was able to focus on reality again, and realize the humiliating situation he had put himself in; he had seriously just watched his husband doing... that! Bill could hardly believe it. Especially because it had been so intoxicating... Why had that man not wanted anything from him yet? Why had they not spent the night together yet? Did he not want him? Was he not attracted to him?!

Bill had completely forgotten all his earlier fears about being forced to love, mostly due to the hormones that controlled his body at the moment, and really just wanted to... ' _To what?'_  He asked himself stupidly. What did he want? It's not like he suddenly wanted to sleep with that man just because he was absolutely stunning, right? Right?!

"Hey," the minstrel said as he suddenly came out of the cottage just a few moments later.

"Hey!" Bill squeaked in a high pitched voice, clearing his throat immediately.

"I think the stew is ready." The man jerked his head towards the cottage.

"What? Oh, yeah. Stew. Yeah," Bill stuttered stupidly, having completely forgotten about that already. 

~*~

Tom had a hard time not laughing and quickly returned inside the cottage so Bill wouldn't see his grin. At first he had been completely mortified when he had seen the prince peeking in through the window, but then decided to put his curiosity to good use; if the prince wanted to see something, Tom would give him something to look at.   
And apparently it had worked like a charm, because Bill was blushing deeply and completely inarticulate. Was that what had been up with the prince yesterday while Tom was walking around shirtless? It hadn't even occurred to him at the time, but now as he looked at the young man who was avoiding his eyes at all costs, it might actually make sense. Was Bill attracted to him?!

Not that Tom wasn't used to people being attracted to him, of course, but... this was Bill. The person he adored and whom he wanted to be with, and gaining his attraction was definitely an amazing step forward. And let's not forget that Tom was also attracted to him beyond measure... He still hadn't forgotten that time when he'd seen him bathing in that lake...

"It smells a lot better with the spices and stuff," Tom commented casually, pretending he didn't notice the prince's flushed cheeks and his slightly unsteady breathing.

"Yeah. Good." Bill nodded, still looking very distracted while Tom fetched plates for them.

They ate in silence while Tom waited for the prince to calm down a bit before speaking again. "Do you know that lake, right between Gearania and Begonia? I know it's already a bit too cold to go bathing, but we could go there in the afternoon, if you want." Tom commented lightly.

The prince lifted his head immediately. "Yes! I know that place. I used to go there all the time..." By the end of the sentence, his initial enthusiasm had been replaced by sadness.

"We don't have to go if you don't want to," Tom said softly; the last thing he wanted was to remind the prince of everything he'd lost.

"No, I do. It's really nice. We should go." Bill smiled with a nod; there was something different about him... Of course Tom knew very well how attraction could change a person – being attracted to Bill had caused him to dress up like a bloody beggar and turn his life into a living hell, after all – but he hadn't really considered how that might be for Bill.

Now that he thought about it, that might actually make sense; Bill had never viewed him as anything but a dirty, disgusting peasant, so maybe now that he had seen him from a slightly different... angle, he would become more amiable?   
Tom often played the 'attraction card' to get what he wanted, he just hadn't thought about doing that here with Bill because... Why not? Why hadn't he done that? Judging by the prince's looks and upbringing, he was obviously very superficial, and despite being very shy, Tom knew he was very attractive – why hadn't he used that before? It was such a simple thing, and yet it hadn't occurred to him at all. He had wanted Bill to love him for who he was, not for what he looked like... On the other hand... Why did he really love Bill? The prince was a total jerk – he just had a pretty face that Tom was head over heels in love with...  
Well maybe he wasn't a complete jerk any longer but... The main thing that had caused Tom to do all this, had been the prince's amazing looks... ' _Wow, I'm way more superficial than I thought...'_

Up until now he had thought the only thing he could really do was let the circumstances of their poor life affect Bill, but maybe there was a whole lot more. Being generous and nice had proven to be very effective – maybe he just needed to combine a few cards.

"We could take the book along – have you finished it yet?" Tom asked as they finished eating; maybe there was some way in which he could show Bill that there was more to him than the lowly peasant.

"No, I haven't. I'm not even half through..." The prince shook his head slowly. "Why do you have that?"

"To read, of course." Tom smiled brightly, getting up to clear away their dishes.

"And you can read?" Bill asked dubiously.

"A little bit." Of course he couldn't tell the prince that they had enjoyed the same education, but he also wanted to let him know that he wasn't entirely uneducated.

"Oh yeah... You managed to read the recipe..." Bill remembered slowly, nodding.

Tom just smiled, dumping the dishes into the washing basin to clean them.

"You should read to me then," the prince said with a challenging look.

Tom raised an amused eyebrow; he was so glad he was a good reader because obviously the prince was just trying to humiliate him – bastard. "I'll read for you if you sing for me."

"What?" Bill asked surprised.

"I've heard you're supposed to have quite a lovely voice." It's not like he could tell the prince that he had heard him singing a few weeks ago by the lake.

"Where did you hear that?" Bill asked suspiciously.

"People talk about you – being prince and all." Tom shrugged; he had never actually heard anyone speaking about Bill's singing, but he was quite sure it happened somewhere.

"What people?" Bill demanded, placing his hands on his hips.

"I don't know... Random people." Tom shrugged, getting a bit paranoid; why was Bill making such a big deal out of this?

"That's not true." Bill narrowed his eyes. "I never sing in front of anyone. Ever. At all. So how do you know that?"

Tom stared at him; seriously? "Um..." He muttered, trying to come up with an explanation.

"You better not lie to me right now," Bill threatened angrily, narrowing his eyes even more and glaring at him.

Tom's mind was reeling for an answer; maybe he should tell him the truth... But what if he got really upset and never forgave him...? Bill was such a jerk... They weren't ready for the truth... Maybe if he waited a while, he could eventually gain the prince's love, but before that happened it was probably unwise to tell him the truth.

"Alright... So I didn't hear anyone talking about it, but I once saw you down by the lake, long ago, and you were singing, so I thought it was something you did a lot." He finally admitted a half-truth; alright, so it hadn't been long ago, but still.

Bill was still looking very dubious, and sniffed pointedly. "Really?" He asked skeptically.

"Yes. You were there with various servants." Tom nodded, relieved the prince hadn't ripped his head off yet.

"And what were you doing there? Spying on me while I bathed?!" Bill shrieked suddenly, apparently only now realizing this. "How dare you, you pervert!" he accused angrily.

Tom was about to point out that Bill had also spied on him bathing today earlier, but decided against it. "I wasn't! It was a coincidence. I was thirsty and wanted to get something to drink from the stream that runs into the lake, but then you suddenly climbed up on the rock and began singing," he defended himself.

"And you had the audacity to stay and watch me?!" Bill demanded furiously.

"No!" Tom shook his head. "I didn't see anything, I just heard you, that's all." God this prince was a bloody hypocrite.

"If you didn't see anything, how do you know it was me?" Bill asked pointedly, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Tom sighed heavily. "Alright, maybe I saw a little bit, but nothing indecent!"

"Uh huh." Bill raised an eyebrow, giving him an incredulous face.

"It wasn't on purpose. I really wasn't trying to impose on your privacy," Tom tried as gently as possible, hoping the prince wouldn't hold this against him forever.

"Whatever." Bill finally rolled his eyes, turning away to get the book.

Tom sighed internally; crisis averted.

~*~

Somehow knowing that the man had known him before they got married, made Bill feel weird; he wasn't certain exactly what the feeling was – a mixture of excitement and anxiety, maybe – he couldn't really name it. Under normal circumstances he would be furious about someone having spied on him while bathing, but then again... he had done the same just an hour or so ago. But of course that was different – they were married – he was allowed to look if he wanted, right?!

Taking a deep breath to calm his confused state of mind a bit, Bill picked up the book that rested on the floor next to their bed; could the minstrel really read well enough to actually read to someone? And if so, why?

Generally, a lot of things about this man were odd; for example, why he moved here obviously very shortly before their wedding, and why he was somewhat useless at being a peasant despite... well despite being one his whole life. Was there more to him than Bill thought?

 

 


	17. Chapter 17

They sat on the Begonian side of the lake, Bill leaning against an old tree stump with his eyes closed while the minstrel read to him, astoundingly fluently. Bill had always been of the opinion that peasants were far too dumb to even learn how to read, but somehow this one seemed to be quite smart, and even semi educated… Could it be that peasants weren’t as bad as he had always thought?

Unlike on other days, the minstrel had his hair loose to dry, and looked drop-dead gorgeous, so Bill had closed his eyes to avoid staring at him all the time. Instead, he tried to focus on his calm, deep voice; had that always been so sexy?   
Actually it had – he had just never viewed it as such… But there was something about it… Most other people he knew talked so fast and hectic, similar to himself, but this man was completely different…

 

They spent the entire afternoon by the lake, Bill listening to the minstrel’s reading while Goat wandered around randomly, nibbling the fresh grass around the lakeshore, until the sun slowly began hiding behind the thick forest surrounding them.

“We should probably head back,” the minstrel said slowly, closing the book that was almost finished.

Lazily, Bill lifted his head; he’d been lying down in the grass and staring up at the fluffy clouds slowly drifting by. “Already?” He asked with a sigh.

“It’s going to get dark soon, and we’ve got a long way back.” The man said quietly, suddenly lying down beside him.

Hesitantly, Bill turned his head to take a look at him; he was lying so close he could smell the scent from the soap in his hair. “Yeah.” Bill mumbled slowly.

The sky was painted in soft shades of yellow and pink, and the few rays that shone in through the trees reflected off the water, giving their entire surroundings a beautiful, romantic atmosphere; if Bill had been here with some handsome prince or princess – or better yet, that damned King Thomas – it would have been the perfect moment for his first kiss.

But since that wasn’t the case, he turned his head away and got up. “Yeah. We should go back.” The fact that he had actually considered kissing the minstrel, despite him being a dirty beggar, scared him a little. ‘ _…He’s not dirty, he had a bath earlier…’_

~*~

Tom hadn’t missed the prince glancing at his lips; what had been going through his mind? Had he been thinking the same as Tom?

With a quiet sigh, Tom followed him and the goat back to their cottage where they ate a small dinner, consisting of the left over stew from lunch.

“So what do we do tomorrow?” Bill asked halfway through their meal.

“I have to go to the market. Are you sure you don’t wish to come? Begonia has a beautiful town – I’m sure you’ll like it.” Tom really wanted to show Bill around his kingdom – being dressed up like a beggar gave him the chance to walk around without anyone being able to recognize him, and he wanted to put that to good use.

“No thanks. I’ll wait here.” The prince said immediately.

~*~

There was no way he could possibly go to town with the minstrel – what if someone recognized him? What if King Thomas was running around somewhere? Absolutely not. Even though he was dead bored and really wanted to go… But no, he couldn’t…

“Are you sure?” The man insisted.

“Yeah. I don’t really want to run into someone I know…” Bill muttered stupidly.

“Like who? King Thrushbeard?” The man asked with a slightly amused smile.

“Don’t call him like that!” Bill snapped in annoyance; he actually hated that name, and was still really sorry that he had named him like that. Had he not… maybe now he wouldn’t be married to a beggar, but to a king…

“Weren’t you the one who came up with that? Thanks to you, every kingdom in the land is ridiculing him.” The minstrel chuckled softly.

“Shut up! That’s not true!” Bill denied angrily, though he knew it was the truth. And he hated himself for it.

“Wasn’t that your intention?” The man asked quietly, giving him an odd, intent look.

Bill sighed, looking away from the penetrating gaze. “No… I don’t know… I was just really angry that day… I didn’t even think about what I was saying… I was so angry at my parents for forcing me to get married and…” He didn’t know how to explain it because he had no idea what demons had been riding him to turn down the handsome king. “I was going to accept his proposal, but then-”

“You were going to accept?” The minstrel interrupted in disbelief.

“Well… Yeah…” Bill mumbled a bit awkwardly.

“Why?” The peasant asked, lowering his eyes.

“I don’t know… He was charming, romantic, handsome… And he gave me the most amazing gift ever.” He well remembered the flower the king had brought him.

~*~

Tom could barely believe his ears. “So why didn’t you?” Had the prince seriously wanted to accept his proposal? But he had been so nasty… Not just to Tom, but to everyone else as well…

“Because then my mother said something about it being a peace offering, and I just flipped out because that’s all it was for everyone: a union between our kingdoms – no one cared about me or how I felt about all that.” The prince said dejectedly; Tom had never seen him so… vulnerable and open.

“My parents never cared about what I really wanted – I was just supposed to find a suitable match that would strengthen our kingdom – whether I was happy or not was totally irrelevant to them… They don’t give a shit what happens to me! They were more worried about what people would think of them than of what became of me! Which is also why they forced me to marry a disgusting beggar!” As soon as the words had left his mouth, Bill looked horrified and fell silent immediately.

~*~

Bill wanted to kick himself; the man had always been so stunningly nice to him, and now he went ahead and said something like that… What had he been thinking?! But he was so upset at his parents for having done that. Not because he didn’t like the man, but because his parents had so simply given him away, without a second thought as to whom the stranger was; for all they knew, he could have been a violent psychopath.

“I’m sorry,” the man said softly; he didn’t look angry, just sad, making Bill feel even worse.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Bill muttered.

“It’s fine.” The peasant smiled sadly, shrugging a bit. “I’m sorry that your parents forced you to be with me. I can’t even begin to imagine how awful it must be for you…”

“It’s not really that awful,” Bill said quickly; it really wasn’t. Despite their life being awful most of the time, there were many moments that he had loved; and not just spying on the minstrel while he bathed – though that was definitely in the top 5. “I mean okay so… A lot of it is pretty terrible, but… not all the time.” He felt vulnerable and really wanted to be honest; the man had always been so nice to him, and actually Bill had developed a rather large crush on him. “And I’m really glad it was you and not some other person.” He added with a small smile, trying to make up for the bad things he had just said. “You’re a lot nicer and far more honest than any person I ever met at court.”

~*~

Tom almost groaned; if only Bill knew that everything was a lie…   
But what was that amazing smile from the prince? Was he telling the truth? Were there actually moments that he had enjoyed?

“I’m sure that your parents care about you, Bill,” Tom said carefully, unsure whether the prince was alright with him using his name; it was something he usually avoided since he wasn’t sure how to address him.

“And yet, you could have raped and murdered me, and they would never know or care,” Bill said sourly.

“Maybe they just didn’t know what else to do…” Tom shrugged a bit uncomfortably; had Bill ever been scared of that…? Had he really ever thought that Tom would hurt him?

“Or maybe they just hate me,” Bill grumbled darkly.

“I’m sure they miss you very much,” Tom said softly, hoping to comfort him somehow. They had finished eating already, and apparently both suddenly realized how intimate the situation had become.

“Anyway,” the prince continued after clearing his throat. “How long will you be gone tomorrow?” There was something gentle in his voice; it almost made him sound like a different person.

“I’ll probably be back by lunchtime.” Tom nodded thoughtfully; there wasn’t much he needed to do, and somehow Bill gave off the impression as if he didn’t want to stay alone for long.

“And what do we do in the afternoon?”

“Um, I need to fix the goat house.” Tom said slowly; he had made a list of things that needed to be done around the house, and that sounded like an easy task.

“What goat house?” The prince raised an eyebrow.

“The small shack next our house.” Tom pointed in the direction where the little hut was located.

“That pile of boards and planks?” Bill asked slowly.

“Yes, that. It’s supposed to be the goat house… I need to fix it or the goat won’t have anywhere to sleep in winter.” Of course Tom had no idea how to do that - he had never fixed anything at all.

“Goat has to sleep outside in winter?” Bill nearly shrieked.

“Of course…” Tom mumbled; did the prince want the goat to sleep inside with them?!

“That’s terrible. He’ll freeze to death!” Bill accused with a frown.

“You want it to sleep inside with us?” Tom raised an amused eyebrow. Bill hadn’t really struck him as the type to let an animal sleep anywhere near him… Maybe he’d undergone greater changes than Tom had anticipated.

“I don’t know… But if not, we need to make a really awesome house for him!” Bill said determined.

“You know that the goat is a she right? That’s why we milk her…” Tom said slowly.

“Whatever. So tomorrow we’ll build a house for Goat then?” Bill asked.

“I suppose we could, yes. Is the goat’s name Goat?” Or why did Bill keep calling it ‘Goat’ instead of ‘the goat’?

“Yes.” Bill said firmly.

“Good strong name.” Tom agreed with a nod, smiling into his empty plate; so Bill had even given the goat a name – not a very inventive one, but at least it was a name. That meant he liked Goat… That was definite progress.

“How do we fix that though? It’s just a lot of wood…” The prince said thoughtfully.

“I don’t know yet, but I’m sure it can’t be so hard, right?” Tom shrugged.

“Hm, hopefully not.”

 

Of course they had both been wrong because the hut was impossible to fix. Bill had been right: it was just a bunch of wood on a large pile that made no sense whatsoever. Though Tom had intended to go to the market today, he had decided to skip because it had rained all morning, which they had spent inside, cleaning up and finishing the book; Bill still hadn’t sung anything yet, but at least they were done with the reading.

“Well?” The prince asked skeptically.

They had placed all the planks on a neat pile in order to reveal the ‘structure’ of the house, which consisted of nothing but two wooden posts that were connected to the side of the cottage with broken roof beams that were mostly caved in.

“Well… We should probably start with the roof… Then we can try to give it walls or something.” Tom said slowly, having absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

“Right. And how do we do that?” Bill asked the same thing Tom was asking himself.

“We need a hammer and nails first.” He concluded with a nod before retrieving the named objects from the nearby wood shack while the prince checked out his nails, obviously to indicate he didn’t agree with the situation.

With a sigh, Tom placed the hammer and bucket of nails down next to the pile of planks, and then began removing the frail, rotten battens so they could replace them.

~*~

“It’s all crooked,” Bill said drily, watching the man struggling with the board that he used to replace the battens.

“It is?” The minstrel asked dejectedly, trying to fix it. “Is that better?”

“A bit.” Bill nodded, getting the hammer and nails.

“Careful you don’t injure yourself,” the minstrel said a bit worried as Bill set the first nail against the board and was about to hit it with the hammer.

“I know how to use a damn hammer!” Bill snapped angrily, though it wasn’t true; he had never used a hammer in his whole life. But then again, how hard could it be, right?

Secretly following the man’s advice, he carefully hit the nail, trying not to hit his fingers that were holding the nail in the process; it was actually not as easy as he had thought because hitting the nail without hitting his fingers required more precision than he had first thought.

~*~

Tom sighed internally but refrained from any further comments as the prince carefully fixed the board before Tom fetched the next one and they repeated the same progress again.

“You’re not holding it straight.” The prince complained, and Tom tried to hold the boards closer together, but they were all crooked so it was hard to place them in a neat row.

“No, still crooked.” Bill shook his head.

Obviously the prince was a total perfectionist, even though it was only the goat house and it really didn’t matter if it was straight or not. With every new board, he complained that it wasn’t straight enough so it took them the entire evening to finish the small shack.   
Working with Bill was extremely exhausting. 


	18. Chapter 18

The next morning, the minstrel left to go to the market, after having asked Bill again if he wanted to go with him, but Bill had refused again.

So while the man was gone, Bill nibbled on a few carrots – he also gave one to Goat – and then headed out into the woods to explore a little bit more of the surroundings. He had remembered the way to the lake, though right now it was too far away because he wanted to be back for lunch, so he just strolled around the forest a bit to pass the time. With the minstrel gone, he was left with nothing to do but wait; of course there were various things he could work at home, but without the other man there, it was too boring. And to top all that off, it was his birthday today.

As it approached lunch, he headed back home because he wanted to cook something for them; he was slowly getting the hang of this whole seasoning thing and really wanted to experiment around a bit. However as he got home, he noticed immediately there was something wrong. Where was Goat?

"Goat?" Bill called loudly as he entered their garden; usually Goat would be around somewhere, bleating incisively.

"Goat, where are you?" He called worried, walking deeper into the garden only to stop in absolute horror. He had forgotten to close to small door to the vegetable patch and Goat had gotten in and destroyed their entire garden.

"Goat! What have you done?" Bill shrieked in horror. Goat looked up at him innocently, bleating a bit and wagging its tail as it munched on their vegetables.

"You destroyed our garden, Goat! What are we supposed to eat in winter?!" He asked horrified; this garden was the only thing they had – without it, they had no food.

"Oh god... He's going to kill me..." Bill whispered terrified. "What am I going to do?!"

Goat was still standing in the ransacked vegetable patch, munching away peacefully.

In total desperation, Bill ran out of the garden, across the field and back into the forest; he couldn't stay there. The minstrel had been nothing but generous with him, and now he had destroyed the only thing that would ensure their survival in winter; without that garden, they would both starve! How could he have been so careless?!

Tears of guilt and despair blurred his vision as he stumbled through the forest, trying to get as far away from the cottage as possible; what was he going to do? How could he ever face the man again after having been so stupid?

Maybe if he went home, he could beg his parents for help; surely they wouldn't let him starve on the streets, or would they...? Though they hadn't cared to check on him ever since he had left home... Maybe they had already forgotten about him, or were happy that he was gone and hoped he had died already...

~*~

"Here's the groceries, my King," Georg said as he handed him the bag with the things they needed back at the cottage; without Bill, Tom had decided to send a servant to the market while he took bath. "I added some sweet pastries that you might want to give to his royal jerkness – it's his birthday today.

"I said you shouldn't get those! We don't want to spoil him!" Gustav glared at Georg, but Georg shook his head.

"The poor guy deserves some candy for all his effort – have a heart Gusti!"

"It's his birthday today?" Tom asked in disbelief. "Why didn't you tell me that? I should have stayed home with him..."

"I forgot, but since you're poor, you can't really get him anything other than some pastries." Georg grinned.

"Ugh, great... Alright, thanks guys. I really should get back then..." Tom said sheepishly, taking the bag from his squire; he really wanted to see Bill now.

"Things are looking up then?" Georg asked brightly.

"I think so. Except that he thinks I'm nice and honest... He will hate me when I tell him truth." Tom sighed, stuffing all the groceries into his satchel. "Maybe I should just tell him now and get it over with."

"Bad idea. If you tell him now he'll know what an asshole you are and hate you forever." Gustav shook his head. "Your Majesty."

"Gee, thanks Gus, you make me feel so much better," Tom grumbled darkly. "Ok I need to go, guys. I promised Bill I would be back for lunch!" He added in a more cheerful note, and his squires accompanied him to the edge of the forest where he changed clothes and then carried on by foot.

By the time he arrived in the forest clearing, it was already a bit past lunch, and Bill was nowhere to be seen outside; maybe he had waited inside for him so they could eat together?

However, as Tom entered the cottage, it was empty as well. "Bill?" He called, but there was no answer so he left his things by the door and went back outside.

"Bill!" He called again, strolling through their yard. The only answer he got was from the goat, and a moment later he saw that it had gotten into their vegetable garden - great.

"Ugh, seriously, Goat!" Tom grumbled, stalking into the garden and grabbing the goat by its horns. "Come with me." He gently pulled the complaining goat out of the garden. "No, bad Goat! That food is not for you."

The goat bleated in protest, but Tom closed the small gate firmly. "What were you thinking, Goat? Bill is going to be really upset when he sees this. Where is he anyway?" Tom demanded, crossing his arms in front of his chest and giving the goat a stern look, but obviously Goat didn't know either, because it walked away without a reply, sulking that Tom had closed the garden.

Great - now what was he going to do? He needed to fix the garden before Bill got back, or else they would be in trouble for winter... For all Bill knew, this was everything they had... Maybe he could somehow repair the damage before Bill got back from wherever he'd gone? But how?

With a sigh, he began cleaning up a bit by removing all the plants that the goat had damaged. It wasn't actually too bad; there were still many undamaged plants left, but obviously not enough to last an entire winter... Maybe he really should tell the prince the truth before winter came.

It took him over an hour to get the garden looking neat again, after which he decided to cook something since he was starving. He was a bit disappointed that Bill had just gone off and apparently had no intention to have lunch with him today, but he reasoned that maybe the prince just needed a bit of privacy; maybe he had gone down to the lake to celebrate his birthday alone...

Cooking a stew took him another hour and a half, and by the time he finally managed to eat something, it was already past 4pm in the afternoon, and he began to get worried about Bill. Where had he gone...? Should he go looking for him? But what if he was just down by the lake and wanted some alone time?

After another restless half hour or so, Tom finally decided to go looking for the prince, and headed towards the lake; by now he was actually rather upset that Bill had just gone off without leaving as much as a note to say where he was going or when he'd be back. That prince was such an inconsiderate jerk sometimes...

Moodily he trudged the long way to the lake, which took him another 40 minutes at least, during which he got more and more upset; just because the prince was a spoiled child who was used to doing whatever he wanted, he couldn't just run away like that and worry him to death. He would definitely give him a piece of his mind when he finally found him.

However, as the lake finally came into view, all lakeshores were devoid of any princes. Had he gone home...? But they would have run into each other because there was only one road...

"Bill?" Tom called loudly, his voice echoing in the small clearing. But again, there was no answer.

His anger slowly turned into paranoid worry; if Bill wasn't at the lake, where the hell had he gone?? Had something happened to him? Had he run away home? Had he been eaten by wolves? Kidnapped by thieves?

"Bill!" Tom screamed at the top of his lungs as he ran back into the forest, overtaken by fear.

Dusk was approaching fast, and it was already quite dim inside the woods – soon it would be pitch black. Panicked, Tom dashed through the forest back in the direction of their cottage – maybe Bill had gone home meanwhile?

But as he got there, the cottage was as empty as he had left it. "Bill?" He muttered into the dark house. "Where are you?"

What was he going to do?! How would he find him? Maybe he should alarm the palace guards and have them search the surrounding forests... But if they found him, what would he use as an excuse as to why the royal guards were looking for him?

But what if he had been kidnapped or something?!

Panicked, he lit a torch and ran back out into the forest, calling the prince's name and praying nothing bad had happened to him.

There was always the chance that he had just ran back to Geraneia... But did he even know the way there?

~*~

Bill sniffed quietly and pulled his knees a little tighter to his chest. It was already dark, and it had become freezing cold over the past few hours during which he'd been running through the seemingly endless forest, completely lost. Initially he had intended to return home to ask his mothers for help, but he had no idea which way that was, so he had gotten lost hours ago, and after it had become so dark that he couldn't see anymore, he had sat down under a large fir tree that offered a bit of protection from the cold wind. What was going to become of him? He had no idea which way was home or... or his parents' home, or anywhere else, and he was hungry and cold.

'I'm going to starve to death... Or freeze... On my birthday! And next spring, once all the snow from the winter is gone, someone will find my decomposing corpse.' Bill whined miserably at his dreary thoughts; he wanted to keep crying, but he was too tired and cold, so he just wrapped his arms around his legs and curled into a pathetic ball of sadness, waiting to die.

However just before he thought he would die, or at least fall asleep, he suddenly heard someone calling... Someone was calling his name! Bill lifted his head off the moist ground and listened, but it was silent...It had probably just been his imagination...

'That's probably the first step before death! Hallucination!' He groaned mentally, tucking his head back into his coat.

But there it was again... "Bill!" Someone's voice called from somewhere in the distance.

Slowly Bill picked himself up and crawled out from under the tree; was there really someone there?!

"Bill, where are you?" Someone yelled in the dark forest, and suddenly he saw a dim light shining through the countless trees. He recognized that voice! It was the minstrel's!

Bill wanted to call the man's name, only to remember he didn't know it. 'Stupid!' Why hadn't he ever asked?!

"I'm here!" He finally yelled, stumbling through the darkness towards the dim light.

"Bill? Where?" The distant voice called back.

"Here!" Bill called desperately, tripping over the roots and sticks that covered the ground as he tried to get closer to the voice.

And suddenly there he was – the person who just saved his life. Right now Bill didn't even care that he was just a beggar as he ran towards him and wrapped his arms around the rather surprised minstrel who stumbled back as Bill practically ran him over, sending them both to the ground.

"Ow... Are you alright? What happened?" The man asked, his voice muffled slightly because Bill was lying on top of him.

"I'm so sorry," Bill wailed pathetically, almost beginning to cry again. "It was an accident."

~*~

Tom was totally confused. "It's fine, don't worry about it. Are you injured?" He didn't even know what Bill was babbling about, but right now he was so thrilled that the prince was alright that he really didn't care what had happened.

"We're going to die!" Bill wailed indignantly.

"What?" Tom asked alarmed. "What's going on?" Had Bill's parents found out that it had been Tom...? Would they really be willing to kill someone for that? Though many wars had been started for lesser reasons...

The prince sniffed sadly, and Tom gently pushed him up to be able to look into his face. "Bill, what's going on?" He asked seriously.

"Goat ate all our food." Bill muttered miserably, his eyes brimming over with tears. "I forgot to close the gate today in the morning. I'm so sorry."

As much as Tom tried, he couldn't keep himself from laughing. "What?! That's it? Is that... Bill, did you run away because of that?" He asked in disbelief, immediately getting more serious as he saw the prince's dejected face at his laugh.

"Why are you laughing? It's not funny," the prince said angrily, wiping at his eyes and trying to get up, but Tom pulled him back down.

"Wait, Bill... I'm sorry. I wasn't laughing at you, I just... I was so worried about you. I thought something had happened to you, or that you had gone home to your parents or something. I thought I would never see you again," he admitted softly, holding the prince's arms so he wasn't able to get up.

~*~

Bill stared at the man in disbelief; hadn't he heard what he had said earlier? About the goat eating all their food? Why was he being so nice? And had he really been so worried about him...? What was that soft look in his eyes?

"The goat ate all our food," he repeated, waiting for the man to start yelling or hitting him, or something like that.

"Yeah, I know. I saw it when I came home." The man nodded and sighed; was he not angry...?

"I'm sorry," Bill said again, completely unsure what was happening right now; this was not at all the reaction he had expected.

"It's okay, it wasn't your fault. These things can happen." He smiled gently.

At that moment, Bill was certain he had never met a more amazing person in all his life; he had officially ruined their life, and yet this man – whose name he didn't even know – wasn't even yelling at him. Bill could hardly believe it; how could such an incredible person even exist? And what in the world had Bill ever done to deserve someone like that in his life?!

To hell with the fact that this man was a peasant – Bill didn't know a single king who was half the man he was; he was everything Bill had ever wanted, without ever having known it.

~*~

Tom swallowed drily as Bill slowly leaned down towards him until their faces were only inches apart and he could feel the prince's warm breath against his cold cheek. This was the moment he'd been waiting for ever since he'd first seen him bathing in that lake. It seemed so long ago...

 

 

 

 


	19. Chapter 19

As much as Tom wanted to lean towards the prince just a few inches until their lips touched, he gently pushed him aside and got up; this was totally wrong. He needed to tell him the truth. How could he just randomly kiss him while there was nothing but lies between them?   
Once Bill found out the truth, he would be upset enough as it was, so Tom really didn’t want to make it worse by kissing him; no matter how much he really, really, really wanted to do that right now.

Clearing his throat, he picked up the torch and then held out his hand to help the prince up.

~*~

Dejectedly, Bill took the aiding hand and then followed the man through the dark forest. Why had he turned away…? Did he not want him? But then why had he been so concerned earlier? He had said that he’d been afraid they would never see each other again – surely that wasn’t just because the minstrel needed Bill to cook and build goat houses, right? Or was it…? Was that the only thing the man wanted from him…?

“Are you cold?” The man suddenly asked, interrupting his thoughts.

“What?” Bill asked distractedly.

The man removed his coat and draped it over Bill’s shoulders. In truth, Bill was actually very cold and shivering slightly; had the minstrel noticed…?

“Thanks,” He muttered quietly; why was the man so nice if he didn’t really like him anyway? But of course… why would he like him?

In a certain way it would make sense, of course – what had Bill ever done to make the man care for him? He’d never been particularly nice to him or shown him any kind of curtesy… Suddenly he wished he would have been more amiable… Oh why had he always been such an arrogant, nasty jerk?! Bill hated himself.

His first reaction was anger – he wanted to yell at the stupid beggar for being such an idiot and not liking him, but then he remembered that that was the exact kind of behavior that had gotten him into this place to begin with; unlike every other person Bill had ever met, the minstrel obviously didn’t want him for his good looks, status or money… Not that he still had the latter two to offer, but still.  
Maybe he should try being nice… Like the minstrel always was… But how? Bill had no idea how to do that. And would it even work? Would the man like him more if he was nice, generous, and all that other jazz?

Bill decided it was definitely worth a try; after all, he had pretty much ruined their life, and yet the man hadn’t even said a single mean word about it. A guy like that was definitely worth a bit of effort, right?

Of course that was a lot easier said than done, because Bill had never been nice and considerate in his entire life and really had no idea how to go about that…

“So um…” He tried awkwardly once they were back on the path that led home. “What are we going to do?”

“About what?” Asked the minstrel, turning his head to look at him in confusion.

“About food? You know… the goat ate it all?” Had the minstrel not understood the seriousness of their situation or something?

“Oh, yeah… Well she didn’t eat it all – there’s still some left but… I guess we’ll have to think of something else.” The man mused slowly.

“Like what?”

~*~

Of course Tom also had no idea, and actually really wanted to tell him the truth, but if he did… What would happen? Would Bill leave him? Probably…

The prince looked so sorry though… And almost nice. He had changed so much over the past month, so maybe they should stay here just a little bit longer… It was getting better after all, right?

“I don’t know… If you want, I could look around for a job for you, so we’ll have enough money to buy food in winter?” Tom asked carefully, expecting the prince to blow up in his face, but to his great surprise, Bill nodded a bit hesitantly.

“But who would hire me? I… don’t know how to do anything,” he muttered dejectedly, looking away.

“But you’re a really fast learner and very smart. I’m sure that you’ll do great with a bit of practice. I have quite a few friends I can ask – maybe someone needs help with something.” Though Bill had a point, Tom was sure the prince could be very useful – the way he had always been around their house – and he was sure he could find some job for him. This might actually be a good thing… It would give Bill the chance to prove himself and do something on his own… Maybe the goat destroying their garden had been a blessing.

“You really think that would work?” Bill asked skeptically.

“Yes, absolutely.” Tom nodded determined, trying to think of what job the prince could do; he needed to talk to Georg and Gustav about it.

 

The rest of their journey passed in silence, and shortly past midnight they finally arrived at the cottage; Tom was freezing and hungry, though probably not as bad as it was for the prince who’d spent the entire day in the forest.

“I made some stew – are you hungry?” He offered as they entered the cottage.

“Yes, I’m starving!” Bill exclaimed happily, and they sat down to eat what was left of lunch, together with the fresh bread Tom had gotten in the morning. Since he’d been so frustrated that Bill had disappeared without saying anything, he had eaten one of the pastries that had actually been designated for Bill – something he now regretted, but oh well… at least there was one left that the prince could have; Tom decided to leave it for dessert, and left it in the bag so he could surprise Bill with it later. Hopefully he would want it…

~*~

Bill scarfed down the stew that suddenly tasted like the most delicious thing he had ever eaten; he was absolutely starving, not to mention really cold, so they sat in front of the fire place, warming themselves. Despite the man’s coat that was still over his shoulders, he was really cold, and obviously the peasant wasn’t any warmer – having given Bill his coat.

“It’s really good,” Bill said hesitantly, earning a surprised smile from the minstrel.

“Thanks…” The man replied slowly, eating the rest of his food.

“What’s your name?” Bill finally dared to ask something he should actually know.

“What?” The minstrel stared at him in disbelief. “You don’t know my name?”

“Sorry,” Bill mumbled, looking down at his plate; obviously this was something he should really know but… it had never come up.

“Oh.” The man said slowly. “Tom.”

Bill stared at him. “Your name is Tom?” He asked in disbelief.

“Yeah.” The minstrel nodded, smiling a bit.

“Like… Thomas?” Bill wanted to die.

“Yeah but everyone calls me Tom.” Tom smiled again, and Bill almost groaned; did anyone call King Thomas like that…? His friends and family maybe? Had he married the king, that was so what Bill would call him… It was cruel irony. All of it. He had actually married a Begonian man named Thomas, but instead of being the king, he was a lowlife minstrel…

‘Who’s probably way nicer than that stupid king anyway,’ Bill thought flatly, sulking into his stew. Though who knew, maybe the king was really nice too… Probably not… Had it been the king’s garden that was eaten by a goat, he would have probably executed Bill or something weird like that.

Once they were done eating, the minstrel put their plates away while Bill scooted a little closer to the fire with his chair and held his hands out to warm them; he was a lot warmer already, but still somewhat cold.

Soon enough he was joined by Tom again, who was holding a plate with… something on it. “Happy birthday,” he said with a tentative smile.

Bill nearly fell off his chair. “How do you know it’s my birthday today?!” He asked in disbelief.

The man shrugged a bit. “I heard it in town.”

“Oh…” Bill smiled a bit, taking the plate that the man was still holding out to him. “Thank you.” It was a squished cinnamon bun that looked kinda gross, and if someone had offered that to him a few months ago, he would have smashed the plate on their head, but now… now he decided to give the pastry a chance.

“What about you?” Bill asked just as he was about to take a bite.

“I got it for you.” Tom shook his head with another one of those breathtaking smiles.

This was one of those moments where he had the chance to show that he was actually a nice person. Carefully, he split the bun in half and handed the bigger half to Tom, who looked very surprised; he really wanted to show him that he could be nice, too.

“It’s fine, Bill, you can eat all of it… It’s the only thing I got for your birthday.” Tom smiled softly, looking a bit resentful at not being able to offer him more.

“I’ll get you one for your birthday too, and then you can also give me half – that way we’ll both have a little bit.” Bill could hardly believe it was himself speaking stuff like that… SO unlike him. But it seemed to work because the minstrel smiled again and took the piece of pastry from him.

Similar to the minstrel, there was a lot more to the bun than met the eye at first sight because it turned out to be absolutely delicious.

~*~

Tom was beyond astounded at this new development; apparently being lost in the woods had caused a pretty big change in the prince who suddenly seemed so… affectionate? Or warm-hearted, or whatever. He was almost like a different person.

After they were done eating, Bill put the plate in the washing basin, and Tom pushed their chairs back towards the table. “We should probably go to bed – I’m really tired.”

“Yeah, I think I’m going to pass out soon… I had the worst day ever.” Bill chuckled a bit, sitting down on the bed and taking his shoes off.

“Bill…” Tom said slowly sitting down by the table as he removed his own shoes. “Please don’t do something like that again… I was so worried about you. Just… please always tell me if you’re going away, alright?” It’s not like he was trying to lock the prince in or anything, and he really hoped it wasn’t coming across like that, but today had been an absolute nightmare for him.

The prince looked slightly unsure, but eventually nodded. “Yeah, I’m sorry… I… I thought you would be really angry at me and… I don’t know, I just panicked,” he mumbled slowly, shrugging a bit.

“You know that I would never do anything to hurt you, right? I know you can’t know that, since we barely know each other, but… even if something bad would happen and I would be really angry, you don’t have to be afraid of me.” Tom was well aware that saying something like that sounded kinda stupid, but if Bill had really ran away because he thought Tom would do something bad to him because of what had happened, he really needed to correct that.

Bill stared at him for a moment, but then smiled hesitantly. “Okay.” He actually looked very relieved as they finally got into bed.

Unlike usually, this time the prince didn’t turn towards the wall, but lay side by side to him, gazing up at the dark ceiling. “Tom?” He finally muttered quietly.

“Hm?” Tom answered lazily, turning his head a bit to look at him properly.

“Thanks for coming to get me… I was so scared. I thought I would die…” the prince kept staring up at the ceiling, looking slightly uncomfortable.

“Any time,” Tom said softly, overwhelmed that the prince bothered to thank him at all.

Cautiously, Bill turned his head a bit and smiled shyly before looking away again and closing his eyes. Maybe today hadn’t been as much of a disaster as he had first believed it to be…


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone ^^  
> I'm afraid I have some really bad news ._. I cant post regularly at the moment because next week im going to Switzerland to visit my family until January, at which point I planned a two months trip to Ecuador (yay, I'm so excited), and during this period I won't be able to write a lot, also because I really need to finish roses for lucifer II until January, so I'm kinda stressed out about writing... I will try to write FF as much as I can, and update as soon as I have another chapter, but...yeah... not regularly I'm afraid.   
> I'm coming back from Ecuador at the end of March, so by the beginning of April things should go back to regular (including How Much and Present, yay!) 
> 
> Alright, thats it ^^ and I will post the next chapter of Stereotype and King T as soon as I have time to write them O-O   
> Take care <3  
> Jason

Over the next few days they fixed the goat house, filled the entire shack with wood, and harvested apples, pears and random vegetables. Bill was almost used to this way of life already, barely minding having to milk Goat every morning before breakfast and having to wash clothes in the river; Tom turned out to be very helpful, even though he mostly just did what Bill told him because without Bill’s guidance he was rather useless, but at least he tried. Bill had a feeling the minstrel had either lived at home for a long time or just moved from one place to the next, without ever taking care of anything or anyone on his own; so not independent.

It was Saturday today, so Tom had gone to the market – Bill had refused to go again - while Bill waited at home where he had busied himself with optimizing the flimsy window shutters; they would freeze to death in this cottage if it wasn’t improved a bit before winter came.

“What do you think, Goat?” Bill asked, placing his hands on his hips and stepping back to admire his work. He had spent the entire morning cutting the boards to the right size for each window, and was now totally exhausted, but feeling very accomplished.

Goat eyed him skeptically.

“I think it’s good.” Bill nodded, determined; he had nailed large boards over the shutter frames so they would be more wind resistant and not allow any water to be carried in by storms.

“Yeah, it looks great.” A familiar voice agreed.

“Tom!” Bill said happily, almost having missed the man already, despite him only being gone for a few hours. “How was the market?”

“Good. And I talked to a friend of mine who has a job for you!” The man smiled brightly as they went inside to put away the groceries he had gotten.

“Really?” Bill asked excitedly; why was he excited about a job? That was weird…

“Yes, he works at the royal kitchen and they need a-”

“Come again?” Bill squeaked shrilly, quickly clearing his throat. “At what royal kitchen? King Thr- Thomas’s kitchen?!”

“Yes…” Tom nodded slowly, raising an eyebrow. “That is the only royal kitchen around these parts,” he added with a chuckle.

“I can’t work there!” Bill exclaimed outraged, shaking his head.

“Why not?” The man asked in confusion as he began unpacking the satchel.

“Because!”

“Because what?”

“Because… Because…. Because what if someone recognizes me?” He asked meekly; he would die of humiliation.

“Like who? No one in Begonia knows what you look like.” The minstrel shrugged.

“The king does!” Bill argued vehemently.

“I don’t think he hangs out in the kitchen though…” Tom mused slowly, shaking his head a bit.

“What if he decides he wants a midnight snack and shows up randomly?!” Bill asked panicked, already imagining the worst scenarios in which he would run into the king.

“You’d have the morning shift that ends after lunch – so you won’t have to walk back in the dark.” The minstrel shook his head.

“But but but… But…” Bill mumbled.

“It’s a great opportunity. It pays well and maybe later you can teach me how to cook.” Tom grinned brightly, almost making Bill feel less miserable.

“But…”

“It’ll be fine, you’ll see. The King never goes down to the kitchen, trust me.” The minstrel assured him with a gentle smile.

“How would you know that?” Bill asked suspiciously.

“I have a few friends who work in the palace.” The man shrugged carelessly while they slowly began preparing a late lunch.

“Really? Even outside the kitchen?”

“Yeah… I know two of the king’s squires – we grew up together.” Tom said hesitantly.

“How come they became squires and you became a…” Bill bit his tongue, quickly stopping himself from saying something he would regret later. “Not a squire?”

“Nice save.” Tom laughed, giving him a knowing smirk that almost made Bill blush. “I guess I wasn’t talented and smart enough for that.”

“Hm… I think you’re smart enough... But so not talented enough.” He teased, sticking his tongue out playfully while the minstrel laughed. “So what’s the king like?” Bill was really hoping for the king to be a total jerk.

“Not what I had hoped him to be.” The minstrel shrugged with a slightly sad smile.

“What do you mean?”

“I think he wasn’t ready to be king. He’s too young and immature… He was only crowned because of his father’s illness, not because he was ready for the throne.” The man frowned a bit, tossing the diced vegetables into the pot with a sigh. “I guess he’s trying but… I feel like his head is elsewhere.”

“Like where?” Bill was still waiting for something really bad so he could diss the damned king.

“Currently no one knows.” Tom laughed a bit. “Ever since that encounter with you, he hasn’t really left the palace and no one knows what he’s up to, but rumor has it that he’s been neglecting his royal duties quite a lot, and his parents are not happy about it.”

So not the direction Bill had hoped for. “Oh… What about before that?”

“Before that, his parents had been urging him to get married since the day he was crowned, but he had always refused until you came along.” The minstrel gave him a weird look before returning to their cooking.

“Really?” Bill smiled a bit, feeling flattered, before the rest of the words sunk in.

“Yeah… I guess his parents felt that he would be a stronger leader with a king or queen by his side. After all, two kings are twice as good as one, right?” The minstrel chuckled.

 

 

“So his parents are like mine then…” Bill mumbled darkly. “And he never actually wanted to marry me…”

“Of course he did!” Tom said loudly. “I mean… I’m sure he did, otherwise he wouldn’t have gone there. After all, he had never shown interest in anyone before you.” He added quickly.

Bill raised an eyebrow, surprised at the sudden outburst; what the hell was that about? “Oh… Why?” That actually made no sense.

“Maybe he knew how amazing you are.” The man smiled softly with a small shrug, and Bill laughed loudly.

“Yeah right. We didn’t actually know each other… And if we had, I’m quite certain he wouldn’t have wanted to marry me.” He mumbled quietly.

“Actually I think if he would know you the way I do, he’d consider himself very lucky to call you his.”

Bill stared at the man’s soft smile and eyes that were focused on their cooking food; that was quite possibly the most romantic thing he had ever heard; it made him feel all gooey inside. “But if I had married him, I wouldn’t be who I am now…” After all, that was all thanks to... To what? The crappy life they had? No… No, it was thanks to Tom. Without him being as amazing as he was, nothing would be this way.

Tom turned to give him a thoughtful look. “Why not? You’re so smart, talented, enthusiastic, diligent, imaginative… Why wouldn’t you be that way if you lived in the palace?”

“I don’t know…” This was actually a very good question; why was life there so different? Oh right: there was no Tom. Well there was a Tom, but the wrong one.

“I guess I… I never realized how much more there was in life. I never knew how other people lived… I never cared. I never thought about anyone other than myself… And as much as I initially hated this life, somehow I kinda like it… Don’t get me wrong, I could so do with a bit more money and breakfast in bed occasionally, but… overall it might be the best thing that ever happened to me because now I can finally do things.” Bill was stunned at his own words; the worst part was that they were actually true.

“Not that I didn’t do things before – of course – but… these things are different. I can’t really explain it… Whatever, the point is that it’s not as bad as I had first thought it would be… But we should still become rich one day. Like, seriously.” He added with a playful grin, though he wasn’t actually joking about it; somehow he had to find a way to get back into decent society, even if it took him a lifetime to get there; there was no way he would spend the rest of his life in this cottage. After all, Bill was very ambitious. Who’d have thought…

~*~

Tom wanted to do a little happy dance; those were exactly the words he had fantasized about. And now he even had the perfect plan to tell Bill who he was – provided Bill accepted the job in the palace kitchen, of course. Everything was going according to the plan that he hadn’t actually planned out at all; life was perfect.

“We really should become rich one day, yes.” Tom chuckled, also very tired of the peasant life already, though not tired enough to give up quite yet. Just a few more weeks… Just to be absolutely certain Bill wouldn’t fall back to being a total jerk.

“How come you never put your enthusiasm and ambitions into anything at court? I bet if King Thomas had someone as passionate and clever as you by his side, he would be a far better king.” Tom said quietly; he really believed that. If Bill would always be the way he was here, their kingdom could have a bright future ahead.

“I really doubt that. I might be good with house stuff, fixing roofs and milking goats, but not royal duties…” Bill shook his head.

“Have you ever tried? Have you ever even thought about it? What would you do if you were king?” Would Bill make a good king? The old Bill would make a terrible king… A selfish brat who doesn’t care about anything or anyone but himself – but the new Bill… He had potential.

The prince snorted with a shrug. “No idea.”

“Oh come on, give it a try.” Tom encouraged him cheerfully.

“I don’t know… What would you do?”

“I’d be a terrible king.” Tom laughed; so true.

“No you wouldn’t.” Bill also laughed, giving him a soft shove. “I bet you’d be a great king…”

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” Tom always felt as if he were a terrible king, and even though no one ever said it to his face, he knew that many people believed that, despite him being popular among his own generation – probably mostly thanks to his looks.

“Because you’re generous, kind, noble, honest, fair… Those are qualities every king should have.” The prince smiled softly, giving him another one of those looks that made Tom want to kiss the life out of him, weren’t it for the fact that he wanted to throw up due to the ‘honest’ comment… and the noble one; what kind of a noble, honest person would do what he had done to Bill? …Even though he himself said that it had been for his own good… But still! It was awful!

“I guess so.” He laughed a bit awkwardly, not knowing what to say. “So what would you do?” He returned to the earlier question, trying to avoid talking about himself. They had finished preparing food, and now sat on the bench while they waited for it to be done.

“No idea… I don’t even know what kings do…” Bill mumbled sheepishly. “Of course I had to learn a bunch of stuff but… It was so boring and I wasn’t paying any attention.”

Tom laughed quietly; he knew exactly what the prince meant. “Yeah, must be boring.”

“Ugh, you have no idea. Worst part about being royalty: learning etiquette and politics.” The prince scrunched up his nose and shook his head in disapproval while Tom laughed again, well remembering his own education.

“I think that kings spend a great deal traveling around to annoy their subjects and remind them that they are kings… They issue commands of all kinds, manage their estates, deal with special justice cases, give audiences, have policy discussions with their councils, and generally try to do what’s best for their people. Or that’s what they should be doing anyway…”

~*~

Bill stared at him; how the hell did he know all that? Of course these were all things Bill had learned about, but he had never actually done any of them… He had spent his days shopping, partying, complaining, horseback riding, and avoiding his parents. “I don’t think I would be any good at those…”

“You wouldn’t want to do something good for your people? Hear what they have to say? What their problems are and how you could help them? Set up new or reformed constitutions that would be better than the ancient laws we have – some of them being really ridiculous – and try to improve our society?” The minstrel asked skeptically.

“Um… I don’t know… Like what?” Bill had never actually thought about any of this, but he was greatly impressed that the peasant was able to hold a conversation like this; obviously there was a whole lot more to him than Bill had thought. Of course he had noticed that over the past few months, but never was it as obvious as now.

“Well… For example, taxes. We mostly just use them during times of war – so a lot lately because Begonia and Geraneia have been fighting like crazy for no reason at all – but we could use them for other things. If the war would end, we could lower the taxes but keep them for other things, such as medical aid for people who can’t afford medics. And maybe someday make education available for commoners – it’s not fair that it’s only reserved for nobility.”

While the minstrel talked, Bill was horrified at himself for never having thought of anything like that; while he’d been a prince he had had the power to actually induce such changes, but he had never wasted a single thought on it. And here was a lowlife peasant, with amazing, revolutionary ideas. The world was so unfair. A man like this should be a prince, not one like Bill…

Tom carried on talking about modernization and equality for their people, how all the money being wasted on the war could be used to benefit their society and what amazing things could be done, while Bill just stared dumbfounded at him, feeling guilty and terrible for having given up the chance to do things such as those.

“And pass a law that prohibits domestic violence. We really need that.” The minstrel nodded thoughtfully.

“Yes. That would be a really good law… And we need a law against goat violence.” Bill finally pitched in with his first idea.

“What?” Tom asked with a laugh.

“I’m sure that not all goats have such a good life like Goat. Goats everywhere are abused for their milk, kept in tiny stalls their entire life and then killed once they can’t produce enough milk anymore! We need something like… an animal protection law or something. If I were king, I would enforce that law!” Bill said determined while the minstrel stared at him with a slightly amused, slightly freaked out expression before he finally smiled.

“Yes, you’re right. It would be a good law. Just think about it; had you married King Thrushbeard, you could do all that for the goats of your country.” The minstrel smiled slyly.

“Shut up. I’m starving, let’s eat.” Bill laughed, giving the man a soft punch in the arm; he hated thinking about what _could be_ had he married the king…

 


	21. Chapter 21

The next morning, Bill was woken up by someone gently shaking his shoulder. Lazily, he opened his eyes, looking around the dark cottage that was only lit by the fire in the chimney.

“We have to get going soon.” The minstrel said softly, leaning over him. “It’s almost 5 am and you have to be at the palace at 6.”

“Ugh,” Bill grumbled, turning around and pulling the blanket over his head. “Go away.”

“You can’t be late on yours first day.” Tom shook him again.

“I’m not getting up at 4:30 am so some lazy king can have his breakfast!” Bill growled moodily.

“Come on, you’ll lose the job if you don’t show up,” the man said gently. “What’s meant to become of Goat if we starve in winter?”

Bill lifted his head to give him a skeptical look. “Fine. But only for Goat.” He sighed, getting out of bed, immediately shivering from the cold; morning sucked.

After pulling his coat on, he sat down at the table that was set for the both of them, with bread and warm milk. Had Tom already milked the goat today…? How long had the minstrel already been up? Just thinking about it made Bill tired, and he yawned loudly, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

“So what do I have to do in this job anyway?” Bill asked tiredly as they ate.

“I’m not sure… Kitchen stuff,” the man said slowly.

“I don’t know what that means…” Bill mumbled with another yawn.

“Me neither.” Tom chuckled, shrugging. “But I’m sure they’ll tell you.”

 

After they finished breakfast, they set out on the trip to town; Tom went with him so he wouldn’t get lost in the forest, despite him usually always leaving a lot later.   
The walk to the palace took nearly an hour, and Bill was exhausted by the time they finally arrived there. Was he seriously supposed to walk all this way every day and then work afterwards?! He was ready to pass out.   
Sadly, they had no time to rest because once at the palace gates, they were greeted by a young man.

“Bill, this is Georg, one of the king’s squires.” Tom introduced.

“Hi,” Bill said awkwardly; did this man know who he was? What if he did? It was so humiliating.

“Nice to meet you, Bill,” said Georg, shaking his hand rather roughly; obviously he had no idea who Bill was. Thank god!

“Likewise.” Bill nodded, feeling a lot more comfortable already.

“Alright, I’ll leave him in your care then.” Tom grinned at Georg who gave a polite nod. “I’ll see you back here at the gate shortly after 2, Bill.” He smiled softly before walking away.

“I’ll show you to the kitchen.” The man made an inviting gesture that Bill followed, walking through the vast, dark palace grounds. Everything was empty aside from a few royal guards who nodded at the squire as they walked by.

Georg led him towards the small kitchen entrance that was open, revealing a busy morning life; despite it barely being 6 am. There were many people bustling around and it smelled delicious like fresh baked bread that reminded Bill of his own mornings in the palace in Geraneia, back when he didn’t have to get up at unholy hours, walk 500 miles, and work in a kitchen. All before sunrise…

As they entered the kitchen, Georg headed straight for the kitchen chef who was barking orders at everyone and looking slightly stressed.

“Good morning, David.” The squire greeted cheerfully.

“What?” Asked the chef, glaring angrily before he saw who had interrupted him. “Oh, Georg. Morning, morning. What are you doing here?”

“I brought your new kitchen boy: Bill.” Georg smiled cheerfully again, gesturing at Bill.

“Oh, right.” David nodded, giving Bill a critical look before nodding. “Fine, you can start over there by taking all the trash out. Natalie will show you around. Natalie!” He yelled through the kitchen.

“Good luck then.” The squire smiled at Bill, giving him a pat on the shoulder before leaving.

“Natalie, you will show Bill around – start with that pile of garbage you still haven’t removed.” The kitchen chef said sternly once the kitchen maid had shown up.

“Yes, sir.” She nodded politely, grabbing Bill by his arm and dragging him away towards a few buckets of organic waste. Apparently Tom had been right: no one here recognized him.

 _‘I hate my life,_ ’ Bill though drily as he carried out the buckets of garbage together with Natalie who showed him where the trash was.

~*~

From the shadows, Tom watched as Bill helped the maid carry out trash; he had expected Bill to throw a tantrum once he found out what he’d be doing in the kitchen, but apparently the prince was very docile today. When he heard David ordering Bill around, for a moment he’d feared the prince would yell back or something, but nothing at all had happened.

“My king,” Georg said quietly, coming up next to him and watching as Bill dumped the trash and then returned into the kitchen. “He’s a lot nicer than I expected.” He chuckled.

“Yeah… I think he’s just doing it for Goat,” Tom said thoughtfully.

“Goat?” Georg raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, Goat our goat. Bill really likes her.” Fondly, he remembered Bill’s suggestion for a Goat protection law.

“I have no comment to that,” Georg said slowly and Tom laughed quietly.

“Come on, let’s go inside… I’m so tired, I have to lie down for a while.” Tom yawned, heading back into the palace; he felt really bad for Bill who had to work all day… The prince would kill him once he found out the truth…

 

After a warm bath, Tom fell into his bed, completely exhausted yet unable to sleep. His mind kept returning to the conversation he had had with Bill yesterday, and for the first time he realized that this whole thing could turn into a serious political problem; what if Bill rejected him once he found out the truth? What if he returned to his own kingdom and they ended up being enemies just like their parents before them? He was a terrible king – everyone knew that – and if Bill left him, he would fall apart… Bill had the potential to become an amazing king, and without him, Tom would forever be lost. What would become of him if Bill didn’t accept his offer to become his king?

With a quiet whine, he rolled over for the tenth time, realizing it was beginning to dawn already. So much for getting some sleep before he had to go down to see his parents who were already disgruntled enough with him as it were…

His life had become such a mess since that day he’d seen Bill at that lake… Would he ever get out of this?   
Recently he’d still been so sure that this was the right course, but now he was filled with doubts; what kind of a prince would forgive him for having to work in a kitchen? Had he paved the road to war by doing this? And by war, he meant a real one, not a sissy war like the one their parents had been leading for the past few decade… He knew Bill – the prince was headstrong and reckless – if pushed enough, he would probably be ready for a full out war between their kingdoms…

~*~

“Bill.” David approached him once the royals had had their lunch. “It’s 2 o’clock so you can go home now and I’ll see you tomorrow at 6.”

“Okay.” Bill nodded, relieved. Finally he could leave, he was about to die.

“Also, feel free to take any leftovers you want,” the chef pointed at the counter where the leftovers from lunch were.

“Really?” Bill asked stunned; he hadn’t had anything decent to eat ever since he’d gotten married… Other than that bun and a small lunch today.

“Yeah, but leave some for Natalie – she always takes some home to her kids.”

“Alright, thank you.” Bill smiled brightly.

“I’ll wrap something up for you.” Natalie offered brightly, putting together a small basket for him while he cleaned himself off; he’d spent the entire day peeling potatoes, cutting vegetables, washing dishes and doing whatever David ordered him to do – he felt like he were about to collapse.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Natalie said with a bright smile as she handed him the basket.

“Yeah, tomorrow.” Bill nodded, wondering how he would be able to survive this job.

Shakily, he stalked out of the kitchen, into the palace grounds; now that it was bright, he could see just how beautiful and luxurious the palace was – far more so than Bill’s home. At the very top of the palace was a large tower with the Begonian flag that depicted a water lily like the one Bill had gotten from the king way back when; was the king’s bedroom up there?

‘ _Had I married King Thrushbeard, I could be sleeping in there right now…_ ’ Bill thought darkly, turning away and heading towards the gates where he’d be meeting Tom so they could walk home… Another hour of walking… _‘I’m going to die._ ’

Tom was already waiting for him by the gates and smiled as he approached. “Did you have a good day?” He asked carefully, obviously suspecting it hadn’t been so.

“No, it sucked. I had the worst day of my entire life and I want to die,” Bill said flatly.

“I’m really sorry,” Tom said softly as they began walking back home; Bill could barely feel his legs anymore. “You know… if it’s really too bad, you don’t have to keep working there. I’m sure we could find something else.”

Bill’s first instinct was to say yes, but then he thought about the fact that other jobs would probably not be a lot better… And he had really liked Natalie – they got along great despite her having no idea who he was… Maybe that was why. She was really helpful and nice – almost like Tom, except… Well… not Tom. How come people outside the palace were all so nice…?

“No, I’ll try it again tomorrow – I can always quit later, right?” He asked slowly.

“Yes, of course.” Tom smiled brightly. “So… it wasn’t all that bad?” He asked hopefully.

“It was, but… What else am I going to do? Besides, I got food!” Bill lifted the basket with the leftovers – at least they could eat something decent today.

~*~

“Ooh, yum!” Tom knew exactly what was in that basket; the same he had had for lunch today. He could barely believe Bill was really willing to give this a go; obviously the prince had come a very long way in the past two months.

“Shall I?” Tom offered to carry the basket that the prince handed with a small smile.

“Thanks… I can’t feel my limbs anymore… Please tell me this is something I’ll get used to after a while.”

“I’m sure you will. Most jobs are just hard at the beginning until you get used to them.” Of course Tom had no idea what he was talking about, but it was something Gustav had once told him, and he really hoped it was true; not just because of Bill, but also because he still had a giant pile of wood that needed to be chopped… Just thinking about it made him cringe.

“So what did you do in the kitchen?” Tom asked lightly as they entered the forest.

“Um… Mostly just cutting and washing stuff… My hands are killing me. And my feet, because I didn’t get to sit down one single minute… Aside from like two seconds during lunch,” Bill whined sadly, hanging his head low. “I swear I could fall asleep right here in the middle of the forest.”

Tom felt really bad and wished he could do or say something to make the prince feel better, but he couldn’t think of anything so he just nodded sympathetically. “We’ll be home soon, then you can lie down for a while.”

“Yeah… until next year,” Bill groaned.

 

The rest of their journey passed in silence, and once they had gotten home Bill lay down and didn’t wake up until the next morning.

Tom felt really bad for what he was putting his beloved through; maybe he should have gotten an easier job for him… But what? Gustav was a good friend of David’s, that’s how they had convinced him to take Bill in – after all, it’s not like they could tell David that his new kitchen boy was, in fact, the prince of Begonia who was now married to the king… And there was also the small selfish reason that Tom really hoped Bill would learn to cook a bit, because the food they had to eat here was gruesome.

Very early, before it had even gotten fully dark, Tom lay down next to the sleeping prince, again wondering how he’d ever make it up to him for the things he was putting him through.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas! 
> 
> thanks for reading x3


	22. Chapter 22

Bill groaned quietly as he slowly began waking; his entire body ached and he could barely move. Too exhausted to face the day, he buried his head under the pillows, ignoring the gentle hand shaking his shoulder. 

"Bill, you have to get up," Tom said quietly, but Bill ignored him, leaving his eyes tightly shut. "It's almost 5 already."

"Go away," Bill groaned, but the minstrel lifted the blanket off his head so Bill cracked an eye open.

"I don't want to," he whined pathetically but then his eyes fell on the tray of food that stood on a chair next to the bed. "Is that breakfast for me?" he asked suspiciously. 

The minstrel smiled softly. "I can't really serve with the whole money issue, so i thought the least i could do was bring you breakfast in bed."

Bill's stomach fluttered softly at the man's words; Tom had actually remembered what he had said.  
Suddenly wide awake, Bill sat up in bed and took the tray with a hesitant smile at the minstrel who went back to the table to eat his own breakfast. Maybe getting up to work wasnt as bad as he had initially anticipated. Though his entire body did ache from yesterday's work, and he had no idea how he would survive this day.

Just like yesterday, Tom walked with him to the palace gates where the guards let him in to go to the kitchen; the king's squire wasn't here today. 

Just like yesterday, he spent the entire morning doing mundane kitchen work while he tried not to pass out, until 2 o'clock in the afternoon, when he was allowed to leave with his little basket of food that he shared with Tom for an early dinner.

Just like yesterday, he went to bed really early, barely able to register what was happening. 

~*~

With a frown, Tom sat down at their small table, watching the prince sleep despite it only being 6 pm. They couldn't live like this. Bill was a total mess and it had only been two days... A prince who had spent his entire life doing nothing, simply wasn't cut out for kitchen work.

Tomorrow he would tell Bill to quit. He would stop this stupid game before it got completely out of hand and pray that the prince would forgive him. 

But what if he didn't? What if he really would go back home and start a war with Begonia? What if they ended up mortal enemies?! 

For the millionth time, his mind changed opinions, going back and forth. At this point he was so scared of Bill discovering the truth that he had half a mind of simply resigning the crown and eloping with the prince; it's not like he was that crazy about being king anyway... They could run away together, to some distant kingdom where no one knew them, and start a new life as peasants together... 

'Oh god, what am I thinking?!' Tom mentally slapped himself. Was he seriously considering giving up his amazing, comfortable, rich life to be with Bill? Now, after knowing how miserable a peasant's life really was? Was he really ready to chop wood for a living? 

The sad truth was that he was, in fact, ready to do that. He would rather chop wood and milk goats for the rest of his life, than being separated from Bill. Yes, he was truly that pathetic. It was a sad realization.

No. He couldn't tell Bill the truth. At least not yet... But then when? Would there ever be a moment in which Bill wouldn't hate him for what he had done? 

With a heavy sigh, he lay down next to his beloved, listening to his deep, even breathing.   
Maybe the smartest thing to do right now was nothing. Maybe he should wait until Bill discovered the truth himself and then beg for forgiveness. 

~*~

Just like the last two mornings, Bill was woken up by the minstrel giving him a soft shake; how the hell was that man always awake the early?

"Breakfast?" The man asked gently, giving him a soft smile that made it impossible for Bill to yell at him, which was actually what he really wanted to do right now. 

"Thanks," he mumbled quietly, sitting up to eat. He was actually feeling better than yesterday; he had slept a ton and for some odd reason he felt enthusiastic about today. Yesterday he had been paying a bit of attention to what David was doing, and he was sure he could learn something from him; the whole cooking thing actually intrigued him and he wanted to find out a bit more of it. 

Unlike yesterday, today he paid close attention to the road, determined to walk it alone soon; he didn't like to depend on Tom's help for everything. Which was weird because until recently he even depended on other people to dress him, but now that he had discovered that he could actually do things on his own, he quite liked it. 

At the palace gates, Tom bid him farewell, and Bill stalked across the dark grounds towards the warm kitchen that looked a lot friendlier than before. 

"Good morning, Bill!" Natalie greeted him as he joined her in cleaning up the counter where the bread had been prepared earlier. 

"Morning." He smiled enthusiastically. 

"Are you feeling better? I noticed you were a little off yesterday," she whispered while they worked; David didn't like it when they chatted. 

"Oh, yes, thanks." Bill was touched by her attention; she cared without even knowing who he was... That had to mean that she liked him, right? 

He was really starting to enjoy the anonymity of being a peasant. It made his relations with other people more... real? honest? Something that he liked, anyway, whatever it was. 

After they had cleaned up and the breakfast had been taken up to the palace, Bill carefully approached David and waited for the man to take a short break; something that rarely happened but right now he was just cutting meat that would be used for lunch while Natalie and two others were cutting the vegetables. 

"Excuse me, David?" Bill asked hesitantly.

"That's chef David!" He complained loudly, turning around to look at him. "What do you want? You should be over there peeling potatoes!" 

"Right. I was just wondering-"

"We only have have five and a half hours before lunch so get over there and peel those potatoes!!" David barked loudly, pointing towards Natalie who ducked her head a little. 

"Yes, sir." Bill sighed with a nod, trudging over there to help her. 

"What are you doing?" She whispered as he picked up the knife and a potato. 

"I wanted to ask if I could somehow learn to become a cook here," he muttered sheepishly; it was probably a stupid idea anyway. 

"You want to become a cook?" Natalie asked surprised. "But do you even know something about cooking?"

"Not a thing." Bill shook his head, earning a wide-eyed stare from her.

"Well I can tell you it's a ton of work. And besides, you need to be able to read and all. Lots of recipes, you know." She shook her head.

Bill gave her a sideways glance; was Natalie not able to read? Oh right... She was just a commoner... A kitchen maid... But she was so nice. It was odd. 

"I can read a little." He didn't want to seem weird so telling her that he had a great education was probably not so wise. 

"Really? Why?" She asked astonished. 

"My father taught me. He's a teacher," he lied confidently. 

"Wow, really? Your father is the royal tutor?"

Oh right. The only teachers worked at the palace... Whatever. "Yes he is."

Natalie beamed at him in excitement. "That's so great! You should tell David that you're interested in becoming a chef! I'm sure he will take you on, he's friends with you father, after all."

Oh great. "No, no," Bill said quickly, "I'm trying to do this without my father's connections, you know?" What was he getting himself into?! This was going to end badly.

"Oh, of course." Natalie nodded in understanding. "Then just tell him you're interested and show him how smart you are!"

"Yeah, except he won't even let me talk to him." Bill sighed. 

"He's always stressed at this hour. You have to tell him after lunch. Tell him that you'd like to stay a bit longer and learn something from him because he's such an amazing cook; he'll be totally into that," she giggled quietly. 

"Oh, okay," Bill chuckled with a nod.

And so he waited until his long shift was over, after which his legs and arms ached so much and he was nowhere near ready to spend any more time here; this whole cook thing would have to wait a little... He could always talk to David tomorrow. Or the day after that... Or the one after that.

Exhausted, he stalked out of the kitchen with the little food basket, and headed towards the gates to meet Tom who was already waiting for him, like always. 

~*~

"How was your day?" Tom asked as the prince approached him. He didn't look as miserable as Tom had expected him to look. Though already today in the morning, the prince had appeared rather upbeat. 

"It was okay." Wow, no more wanting to die then. "I have a really funny kitchen chef. He's really stressed and we're only allowed to call him chef David." Bill laughed and Tom joined him; he actually knew exactly what Bill was talking about, having gone down to the kitchen quite a few times when David was stressed out over something. Which was nearly every time he saw him. 

Tom offered to carry the basket again, and followed an oddly chatty Bill back the long road to their cottage. He was actually quite interested about what Bill had to say since it was the first time he heard any of this from such a perspective. It was quite funny to hear all the odd things that happened in his own kitchen that he had no idea of. 

Just like the previous days, they ate an early dinner and Bill went to bed while Tom decided to get a bit of work done as well - given he had spent his entire day lazying around the palace, hanging out with the Gs - so he headed outside to stack some wood, milk the goat, harvest some food, and whatever other things needed to be done; this cottage was a bottomless pit when it came to work. Oh what one doesn't do for love... 

Tom shook his head at himself. If his father knew what he was doing here, he would have probably disowned him already.

His parents were still of the opinion that he should find himself a nice spouse from one of the nearby kingdoms that would make a good political match, and they had argued about it over lunch again. If only they knew he was already sort-of-happily married... 

How would his parents react once they found out that he'd been married this entire time? His mother would probably die of a stroke because she had been looking forward to planning his wedding since before he'd been born... Great. That was a whole new problem he had never thought of before. His mother would probably never forgive him for getting married in secret... And his father might finally have that heart-attack his mother had been talking about for the past ten years. And then they would blame it on him... Great. 

Whining miserably, he lay down next to Bill after having extinguished the oil lamp and snuggled under the rough covers. 

"Is something wrong?" Bill's sleep-ridden voice asked quietly, startling him.

"What? No, everything's fine. Go back to sleep," he whispered quietly, internally slapping himself for not having noticed that the prince had woken. 

"Hm." Bill mumbled and nodded, edging a bit closer to him, away from the cold that was already rather intense at night; they really needed another blanket. Although... the cold made the prince very snuggly, and Tom really liked that since it was the only time during which he was able to be close to him. 

Another point which was bothering him: their relationship was going absolutely nowhere. Before Bill had started working, he had had the impression that there was something there - random little looks and smiles - but ever since the prince had gotten that job, he was too tired to even talk... Well today he had talked a little bit... Maybe it would get better? Maybe once Bill was more accustomed to the current situation, things would go somewhere?

Tom actually had the impression that the prince liked him sometimes, it was just difficult to tell, given the life they led... Being poor just killed everything. The only thing they ever did was work...


	23. Chapter 23

Over the following week, Bill managed to walk to the palace on his own without getting lost and slowly got used to the kitchen work which wasn't as bad as he had initially thought. He was even getting used to the long walks from their cottage to the palace and to getting up at five am everyday; Tom barely had to wake him anymore. Of course the fact that he had made friends with Natalie helped greatly because he loved seeing her every day and chattering with her about nonsense while David wasn't paying attention; he felt as if, foe the first time in his life, he finally had a friend.   
Of course he also had Tom, but that was kinda different... Mainly because he was seriously beginning to like the peasant - In a far mire than friendly way - and it made him a bit nervous. After all, Bill had never been in love with anyone and had no idea how the new him was going to handle it. 

 

It was already nearing the end of September by the time Bill finally believed himself physically capable of remaining at work longer than what he had to, and decided to approach David - after Natalie encouraged him a lot. 

"Excuse me, chef David?" Bill said politely after his shift was over and David was taking a breath. 

"What is it, boy?" The man asked gruffly, looking up from his late lunch. 

"I was wondering if perhaps I was allowed to stay a bit after my shift to watch you preparing dinner. I know what an amazing cook you are and I was hoping to learn something from you. I would like to become a great chef like you one day, too." Hopefully Natalie had been right about David. 

The man raised a surprised eyebrow and gave him a skeptical look. "Is that so." He nodded slowly. "And what do you know about cooking?" 

"Not much yet, but I've been reading through some of your recipes during my lunch break and I fins them very inspiring." Of course Bill was exaggerating - inspiring wasn't really what he found recipes to be, but whatever - he just wanted to let David know that he was able to read at least.

"Oh really?" David asked stunned, pausing in his meal to look at him; obviously Natalie had been right after all.

"Oh yes! They sound wonderful! Did you make all of them yourself?" Bill didn't really care, he just wanted to learn to cook because remaining a kitchen boy for the rest of his life was out of the question. 

"Well!" David began brightly, "certainly not all of them. But I must say that mine are definitely the best," he said proudly.

"I don't doubt that." Bill nodded firmly. "My favorite was the roasted pheasant with wild mushrooms and Italian parsley potatoes. Who was the genius who came up with that?" He asked astonished, well knowing it had been David because his name had been written on the backside of the recipe. 

"That is one of my best for sure!" David nodded enthusiastically, pulling up a chair and gesturing for Bill to sit. "And one of the king's favorites, too!" He added proudly. 

"You don't say! It must be very good then," Bill carried on as he sat down. "When was the last time you prepared it for him?" 

"Hm, quite a while ago, actually. But I shall prepare it again. Natalie!" He yelled over at Natalie who hurried over quickly.  
"Get the hunter! Tell him I need two pheasants for tomorrow!" 

"Right away, sir." Natalie nodded and headed out, winking at Bill with a bright grin. 

"Bill was your name, right?" David directed at Bill again. "Well, you can stay behind tomorrow and I will show you how to prepare the king's favorite dish. If you do it well, I might consider taking you on as an apprentice. Now go home. I shall see you tomorrow bright and early!" He said cheerfully, patting Bill's shoulder. 

"Thank you, sir!" Bill waved as he left with his little basket of food, beaming about his rather easy success at convincing the chef to let him watch. If things really worked out this way, maybe some day he'd really become a chef... That would be a great step up from the life they had now. Surely learning from the royal chef had to open some doors, right? 

~*~

"You're not helping me!" Tom groaned loudly, burying his face in his hands. He had brought forth his dilemma to his squires, in hopes they would help him come to a decision, but so far nothing productive had occurred. 

"I'm very sorry, my king," Georg shook his head, "there doesn't seem to be any simple way out of this. One way or another, this could lead to a disaster." 

"Who said this was a bad idea? Me. Who chose not to listen? You! And now look where we are. I knew this was a bad idea from the very beginning. Bill is going to go back to Begonia and throw us into the next century of war and-"

"Shut up, Gusti." Georg shushed his friend while Tom stared at him with a horrified expression. 

"You really think that will happen?" He asked meekly. 

"Of course!" Gustav said firmly. 

"No it won't." Georg slapped Gustav's arm lightly, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "Bill's a really smart guy, he's not going to plunge his kingdom into a war over this." 

"He might be smart, but he's also a vindictive, spoiled, arrogant little rat who might be more than willing to destroy his own nation to sooth his bruised ego," Gustav argued, and Tom actually agreed with him; he could totally see Bill doing something like that. 

This discussion had been going on for over an hour already, with no results whatsoever. 

"So what the heck do I do?!" Tom asked in exasperation for the tenth time. 

"I say we go with the option that you two disappear into the far kingdom of Florentina and live a mediocre, meaningless, empty, pathetic life as peasants for the rest of your sad lives. And then you die, your majesty," Gustav said with a final nod. 

Both Georg and Tom gave him a disturbed look. "Yeah, they are so not doing that." Georg shook his head in disapproval. 

Tom was glad Georg was against this idea, otherwise he might have agreed with Gustav. It just seemed like the easiest way out... 

"You will wait until the winter comes and then tell him the truth. Stick to the plan. He would have to be a total idiot to turn you down in the bitter cold of winter," Georg reasoned.

"A total idiot or just really proud... Maybe he would rather die a painful, cold death, alone, forgotten and unloved, than be with Tom," Gustav pointed out. 

"Seriously, Gusti? Being with me is worse than a cold, painful, lonely death?" Tom asked drily. 

"I'm just saying," Gustav mumbled defensively with a small shrug. "Besides, it's not a given he would die. He might survive the winter and eventually turn into a heartbroken, bitter, scornful, twisted person filled with hatred and remorse." 

Tom groaned loudly, smacking his head down on the desk. 

"Now, now, my king. I'm sure that won't happen." Georg tried to sooth him while Gustav mumbled a quiet 'it could' in the background.   
"As far as I've seen of Bill, he's made remarkable changes and I think we should have a little faith in him. And in you, of course," he added with a reassuring smile at Tom. "Didn't you say that you have been getting along quite well? That should count for something." 

"Yeah." Tom nodded slowly. "I need to get back... Bill will be home soon." 

Again having come to no conclusion at all, Tom trudged down from his tower to tell his parents he was going out for a ride while the Gs prepared the horses for them.   
Every day his parents would argue about his absence, and every time he would end up just walking out, making the relationship with his parents a little worse every day.

 

And so, a good ten minutes later, he finally left the great halls to meet the Gs at the gates. However, just as he walked down the large staircase to go into the castle yard, he spotted... Bill?! No way! What the hell was he doing here at this hour?! He should already be halfway home!  
But it was unmistakably him; his long, raven hair sparkled in the afternoon sun, clashing beautifully with his pale skin and embracing his thin, elegant neck.

For a few seconds, Tom stared in delight, captivated by the mesmerizing sight, until Bill turned his head, nearly looking at him.   
Horrified, he ducked behind the stair's large, stone railing, hiding from the prince. He was dressed as king - if Bill saw him now, everything would be over!

"Your majesty? What are you doing?" asked the guard who stood at the bottom of the stairs.

Tom shook his head and gestured around like a crazy person, trying to signal the guard to shut up.

"Your majesty, is everything alright?" Apparently the guard hadn't understood because now he was coming over, attracting the attention of every person in the yard.

Carefully, Tom peeked over the railing but ducked immediately after seeing Bill looking his way - just like everyone else, thanks to that damned guard who wouldn't be quiet despite Tom trying to give him all sorts of signals.

~*~

Bill felt a cold dread creeping up his spine as he saw the royal guard talking to someone behind the railing - the king?!

'Oh god,' Bill groaned mentally, catching a glimpse of the king's elegant robes. He was hiding behind the stairs - seriously? Was it because of him?! Oh gods, had the king seen him and was trying to avoid him?!

Mortified, Bill ran from the palace yard towards the gate as fast as he could, all the while praying he had been wrong. It could have been someone else... Who was randomly hiding from someone else... It could be a total coincidence that the guard had said 'majesty'. Yeah... totally. That had to be it. There was no way that King Thru- Thomas had just seen him dressed up like a beggar... That couldn't be true. Life couldn't be that cruel... 

As fast as he could, Bill ran back to the cottage, swearing he would never ever return to the palace. As much as he wished it weren't so, he knew it had been the king behind that railing, and he knew he had seen him... There was no way he could ever return to that place. He wanted to die of humiliation.  
How he hated that damned king... Hadn't it been for him, Bill's life would still be perfect. He could still be living in his parent's palace, without a worry in the world... Without having to work. Without hunger, cold, poverty... Without having to walk so far every damn day... Without his body aching and his hands being torn to shreds... 

Miserably, Bill sank down at the little cottage gate, sobbing quietly. Over the past few months he thought he had gotten accustomed to this way of life, but it wasn't true. He missed his old life so much, there were no words to describe it. He missed the warmth, the safety, the food, the comfort... The bed, the bath... His horse. He even missed his parents. 

He had tried so hard to fit into this life, to make the best of it, and despite there being a few things he really loved, it was a lie to say that he fit into this kind of life. He had grown up as a prince - it was everything he had ever known - how was he supposed to survive like this? 

All the things he had tried to ignore over the past few months suddenly came crashing down, nearly breaking him apart. Having seen the king reminded him of everything he had so carelessly thrown away due to sheer arrogance and stupidity - he hadn't even thought much about it at the time. He had taken his entire life for granted... And now it was all gone. He had nothing left. 

"Bill?" 

Except for that... Bill stilled immediately, wishing the minstrel would go away. For a second he even contemplated running from him because he didn't want anyone to see him like this, but soon realized he didn't care at the moment. It didn't matter anyway... 

"What happened?" Tom asked gently, kneeling down next to him, but Bill kept his head hidden in his arms, unwilling to let the man see his misery, even though he probably knew. 

Since Bill said nothing, the man slowly wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace that Bill initially wanted to push away, but soon found very comforting and leaned into.   
He didn't know what to say; the minstrel would never understand because this life was normal for him... There was no person in the world who could understand Bill's suffering right now. They would all just call him spoiled... 

"What happened, Bill?" Tom whispered softly, caressing his back. 

~*~

Had this been due to their almost encounter or had something else happened? Why had the prince been at the palace at such a late hour still? Usually he left right after his shift...

"I want to go home," Bill whimpered quietly, and Tom knew he wasn't talking about their cottage. 

This was the right moment to tell him the truth. Even if Bill ended up hating him - this wasn't fair. At first, Tom had wanted to make the prince miserable because of the humiliation he had brought him, but this had gone way too far. By now, the last thing he wanted was to see Bill like this. 

"Bill... I have to tell you something..."


	24. Chapter 24

Bill just nodded, not really caring what the man wanted to tell him right now, because no matter what he said, it wouldn’t change their awful situation anyway. Though for some odd reason, right now, lying in the man’s arms, it didn’t seem that bad anymore.

Before the minstrel was able to continue talking, Bill turned his head until their lips brushed together in a tender kiss; Tom was the only thing keeping him alive at the moment, and no matter how hard he had tried to pretend it wasn’t so, the truth was that he had fallen madly in love with the peasant.

~*~

Tom nearly wailed – this is now how it was supposed to go! He was completely torn between the hesitant kiss and the urge to tell the prince the truth. He really wanted to tell him the truth… But he also really really really wanted to kiss him.   
With a quiet groan of resignation, he reached behind the prince’s neck to pull him closer, ignoring the fact that this was wrong. But he had been dreaming about that kiss for so long that he was unable to stop the shy tongue that slowly began exploring his mouth.

Besides… if he told Bill the truth now, chances were they would never kiss again… No, he would wait with the truth until later. After all, how much worse could it possibly get, right?

Their kiss didn’t last too long, for the prince soon pulled away, burying his face in Tom’s shoulder and mumbling quietly. “I’m really glad it was you whom I married…”

Guilt ridden, Tom had no idea what to say and simply hugged him tighter, kissing the top of his head; the prince would kill him when he found out…

~*~

That wasn’t at all the way Bill had ever intended his first kiss to go, but whatever. In its own way, it had been very nice.

Hesitantly, he looked up at the minstrel who smiled gently before getting up and helping Bill to his feet as well.

“What happened?” Tom asked as they slowly made their way back to the cottage, Bill feeling slightly awkward about the kiss; how would things be between them now?

“I’m never going back to the palace,” Bill stated flatly.

“Why not?”

~*~

Had Bill really seen him, or was there some other reason?

“Because I don’t want to,” the prince said stubbornly, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Did someone do something bad to you?” Why had he still been there so late anyway?

“No, I just don’t want to work there anymore.”

Tom sighed; if Bill really didn’t want to, there was nothing he could do about it… But it totally ruined his plans. “How come you’re back so late?” Maybe he could try from a different angle.

“Ugh… I stayed behind because I wanted to learn some cooking stuff from David,” Bill said with a heavy sigh, shaking his head.

“Oh… did that not go well?” Tom was very surprised; did Bill want to learn to cook? Like… actually cook well?

“It was fine…”

“Then what’s the prob-”

“I ran into the king!” Bill burst out. “He was there! And he saw me! I want to die!” He wailed loudly.

“Oh.” So it had been because of that after all. “Maybe he didn’t recognize you.”

“Of course he did! And he was hiding from me! He hates me!” Bill whined pathetically, slumping down on the kitchen bench and slamming his head against the table a few times.

“I’m quite sure he doesn’t hate you. He probably didn’t even see you, and even if he did, so what?” Tom tried to calm him down, but Bill wasn’t having it.

“So what?!” the prince almost screamed. “So I want to die! Ugh! You could never understand!”

“There’s nothing wrong with your life, Bill. There’s no shame in working in a kitchen. What does the king do all day anyway? Nothing. He’s just lazing around all the time – he hasn’t worked a single day in his life. I bet he would die if he tried to live the way you’ve managed to. If anything, that stupid king should be damned impressed by you – maybe that’s why he was hiding.” The more Tom talked, the better his speech seemed to get; it hadn’t even occurred to him until he started talking but Bill had lifted his head and was giving him a slightly hopeful look, so obviously he was on the right path.

“You really think so?” He asked hesitantly.

“Of course. How many royals are able to master life the way you did? You’re amazing.” The prince was obviously in need of some ego pampering right now, and since Tom was actually of that honest opinion, he might as well let him know just how awesome he thought he was.

~*~

Bill nodded slowly, feeling a bit better. He didn’t fully agree – he thought working in a kitchen was quite shameful – but the fact that Tom thought that way, made him feel better. And it was, after all, better than simply being a beggar…

“So what was that about David you said earlier?” Tom asked curiously.

“Oh… um… Well I thought maybe I could become a chef someday or something… So I wouldn’t have to do all the crappy work all the time. Besides, cooking is pretty interesting… It would be better than my current position, right?” Bill mumbled hesitantly; he had no idea if he was just being naïve and stupid to think that, or if he really had a chance.

“That sounds great. I’m so proud of you!” Tom beamed cheerfully. “I think you would make an amazing chef!”

All of Bill’s earlier dreary thoughts had gone as he bathed in the beautiful feeling of making someone proud; he couldn’t remember that ever having been the case. It was an amazing sensation. Maybe he really should go back to the kitchen tomorrow… To hell with that stupid king.

 

They shared a rather bland dinner, since Bill had dropped his food basket as he saw the king and forgotten all about it, and then went to bed early; for some weird reason, Tom looked exhausted and since Bill wasn’t feeling a lot better, they called it a night.  
Without mentioning the kiss part… Great. Bill really wanted to keep making out, but somehow Tom didn’t seem to be in the mood…

 

~*~

Tom was relieved as he watched Bill leaving the next morning; he had no idea what he would have done if the prince had really decided to quit the job.

Having the next few hours to himself, Tom returned to random farm work, though for some odd reason he didn’t feel too well today. Maybe he had slept badly yesterday due to his worries over Bill; either way, he decided to take a midday nap that would hopefully ease the headache that had made itself quite noticeable during the morning.

 

~*~

“I slave away all day, just so the king is out for lunch today?!” chef David barked loudly at the maid who had just informed him that the king was not in today and had therefor not been able to taste the amazing pheasant chef David had prepared for him.

“But his parents enjoyed it very much,” the maid assured him quickly.

“Who cares about his parents!” chef David growled moodily, stalking around the kitchen, glaring at all the staff who ducked their heads as he passed them.

“Is he always so touchy?” Bill whispered at Natalie who was cleaning dishes with him.

“Yeah, don’t worry about him – he calms down as quickly as he gets annoyed.” She giggled quietly, shaking her head.

“All right then…” Bill said warily, watching as chef David stomped out through the back door, slamming it on his way out. Sure it was a bit of a shame that the king couldn’t try the food, but who really cared… Bill had mostly just been interested in preparing it – he couldn’t care less who ate it and who didn’t.

“By the way, I found the basket you dropped outside yesterday… Is everything all right?” Natalie asked.

“Oh… Yeah. Sorry about that,” Bill mumbled awkwardly. “I ran into the king outside and…Yeah, I dropped it. Thanks for collecting it.” He smiled gratefully.

“Oooh, you saw the king? Word on the street is he hasn’t been leaving his room all too often recently. You know, ever since Prince William of Geraneia turned him down and called him you-know-what,” she whispered, looking over her shoulder to make sure no one was listening.

“Uh… Yeah… I heard,” Bill mumbled awkwardly. “He probably deserved it anyway.”

Natalie gasped. “Bill! Don’t say something like that! The poor king…”

Bill gave her a weird look. “What? You favor him? I’ve heard he’s a terrible king.”

“He is not.” Natalie shook her head. “He’s just young and disoriented… Give him some time. The poor boy has had it pretty rough, with his father getting ill and him having to take on the throne at such a young age… Image what a burden that must be on the poor lad,” she defended him. “I’m sure he’s trying. He’s a generous, kind and patient man who just needs a bit of support and time – I’m sure he won’t disappoint us.”

As much as Bill disliked the damned king, he was touched by his subjects’ loyalty; what would Bill’s own people say about him? He had always treated them all so badly… He had never been a tiny bit generous, kind or patient with a single one of them… They probably all hated him.

 

Chef David had calmed down very quickly, just like Natalie had said he would, and once it was time to prepare dinner, he was completely back to normal. Just like chef David had promised, Bill got to watch him preparing dinner that afternoon, and was already able to help out with various things; nothing too important, but it was a good start. Chef David explained various things about preparing food, such as at which temperature different types of meat needed to be fried, and how important seasoning was; apparently each different type of dish had its own combination of condiments, and that was what made it special.   
Bill took lots of notes, scribbling it all down on an old piece of paper that he put safely in his pocket once he headed home with his little basket that was filled with pheasant leftovers, since the king hadn’t eaten today.

Cheerfully, Bill strolled the long way back to the cottage, happy he had some really delicious leftovers to bring to Tom, and delighted that the whole ‘becoming a chef’ thing seemed to be working out smoothly.

“Hey Goat!” He greeted as he entered the yard, searching for Tom who was usually outside working, but since he couldn’t spot him anywhere, he headed inside.

“Tom?” He asked slowly as he walked into the cottage and saw the man lying on the bed.

As he approached the bed, he noticed how pale the minstrel was, and despite the rather chilly air, he was sweating.

“Hm?” Tom groaned, opening his eyes; he looked terrible.

“Are you okay?” Bill asked concerned, leaving the basket on the table and kneeling down beside the bed to place a hand on the man’s forehead; he was burning hot.

“I’m fine. Just tired,” Tom mumbled softly, closing his eyes again.

“You’re sick!” Bill said horrified; what did peasants do when they were sick? They had no money to afford a medic… What were they going to do?!

“It’s fine. I just need some rest,” Tom insisted, smiling weakly.

Bill wanted to object, but he didn’t know how; rest was the only thing Tom could do right now… Bill knew nothing about medicine or what to do when someone was sick. He had been sick a few times, but the royal medics had always taken care of him and made him lots of tea and…

“I’ll make you some tea!” Bill said immediately, getting up to boil water, only to realize they had no herbs for tea… What was tea made of? It’s not like he could just throw grass in there…

Being poor was crap. Bill ended up just heating some water – drinking was good for Tom, even if it was just water.

“Are you hungry?” Bill asked quietly as he sat at the edge of the bed after Tom had drunk a cup of warm water. “I got some pheasant that David prepared for the king today, but he wasn’t home so we got a lot of leftovers to take home.”

Tom smiled feebly. “Yum. I’m not really hungry though… You go ahead and eat it.”

Bill frowned; what were they going to do?

~*~

Tom whined internally; he loved pheasant! It was his favorite dish… But the thought of eating right now made him feel sick. Why did he have to get ill today? Why not tomorrow when there was no pheasant??

Well whatever, he would probably get better soon. He was usually never sick for long.


	25. Chapter 25

However, Tom's condition only got worse, and the more time passed, the more desperate Bill became; he had no way to help him and no one he could turn to. As much as he had always hated being poor, he had never hated it as much as now; he was so worried about him he had even considered going back home to ask his parents for help, but he didn't know how to tell chef David that he wouldn't be able to come to work – besides, they really needed the money now that Tom didn't earn anything anymore and Bill had to buy everything on his own, especially clothes and blankets for the dangerously close winter.

"Here, drink this," Bill said softly, sitting down at the edge of the bed and helping Tom into a sitting position so he could drink.  
The minstrel had lost weight and was so weak he could barely sit up anymore; if his illness didn't start getting better soon, he would probably die.

Natalie had given Bill some herbs that were supposed to help against the fever and the cough, but no matter how often he made tea for Tom, that was nowhere near enough to help him get better.

Of course the whole situation was also starting to take its toll on Bill who barely got any sleep anymore and worked day and night to keep them alive, trying to juggle his job in the kitchen, taking care of Tom, making sure there was always enough chopped wood so Tom wouldn't freeze while he was away at work, cooking so Tom wouldn't starve, milking the goat, and doing everything else that needed to be done around the house and garden; he had given up on trying to become a chef for now because he had no time or energy. David had been very disappointed, which meant he probably wouldn't repeat the offer to let Bill learn there... So much for their life improving... Sooner or later he would fall ill too if this continued.

"I need to get to work. I'll be back in the afternoon," Bill said gently as he got up and placed a few more logs on the fire to keep it alive for as long as possible while he was away.

"Take care." Tom smiled weakly, lying back down and closing his eyes again.

Bill just nodded, smiling bravely despite wanting to cry; every time he left the house he feared it would be their last goodbye, and every day it became harder to leave him.

As Bill entered the gates of the palace that morning, squire Georg was there waiting for him. "Hello, Bill," He greeted with a polite smile.

"Hey, Georg." Bill smiled surprised; it was the first time since he had started working here that he saw him.

"I haven't seen Tom in a while. How is he?" Georg asked casually; Bill sighed sadly.

"He's really sick... I would stay with him but I have to work. He's been in bed for over two weeks. He has a lung infection. I don't know what to do." It was the first time that he actually told anyone about it, and was unable to keep the worry and desperation out of his voice.

Georg looked horrified for a moment but quickly composed himslef. "I'm sorry to hear that. I must take my leave. Please excuse me."

Before Bill had the chance to reply, Georg disappeared into the darkness of the castle grounds, leaving a dejected Bill behind. He had actually hoped that Georg would maybe offer his help, but obviously he didn't want to be involved in that... Who would, after all - there wasn't much anyone could do about it, unless they were rich enough to afford a healer.  
Which Georg probably was, being one of the king's squires and all... Jerk. Bill frowned after him. What a bad friend - he would just let Tom die...

The thought of Tom dying nearly made Bill cry, and for the millionths time he considered going home to ask his parents for help... But it was so far away... He didn't even know where exactly, and he didn't want to leave Tom. The journey to the other kingdom was dangerous in winter, and if something happened to him, Tom would die all alone...

Not that it was much winter yet, but the temperature at night had already gone below zero, and it was only a matter of days before snow began to fall – if he got stuck in a snowstorm while away, they would both die.

What were they going to do?

~*~

A knock pulled Tom out of his delirious fever and he rolled over onto his stomach, coughing heavily; it made his chest ache so badly he wished he could pass out.

The coughing fit nearly let him forget that someone had knocked... Why was someone knocking? The only person who ever came here was Bill... Had he only imagined the knock?

There it was again though, louder this time, and someone calling his name...

"Come in," Tom groaned weakly, but the person obviously couldnt because Bill had locked the door... Great.

"Tom, open the door. It's us!"

Tom recognized the familiar voice he hadn't heard in weeks: Georg!

Weakly he stumbled out of his bed, coughing heavily and nearly fainting from the exhaustion of getting up so fast.  
After fumbling with the lock for a moment, he managed to open it and to let the Gs and a large gust of freezing wind inside.

"Your majesty! What's going on?" Gustav asked horrified, helping him back into his bed while Georg closed the door.

"Ugh," Tom moaned, "I'm sick... I'm gonna die..."

"No you won't," Gustav said firmly. "Georg, make some fire. We'll get a carriage down here and take you back to the palace."

"No!" Tom shoved Gustav's hands away that were trying to tuck him under the covers. "I have to stay here."

"Are you crazy? You can die! You're coming back with us." Gustav said sternly.

"No," Tom refused again, despite knowing he was being stupid.

"You're not going to die for some prissy, arrogant brat!" Gustav snapped angrily. "He's not worth your life!"

"He is my life!" Tom said angrily, falling into another coughing fit.

Gustav helped him sit up, draping a coat over his shoulders while he coughed so much it nearly made him throw up.

"Guys, stop it, you're only making it worse," Georg finally came into the conversation after bringing the fire to life. "Gusti is right, my king - You can't stay here."

"But I can't leave either... I'm so close..." Tom groaned, leaning back in the bed. His head was spinning and his entire body aching.

"Be that as it may, if you die, you won't be able to be with Bill either. You must return to the palace with us," Georg urged him, and Tom knew he was right, but he didn't want to.

"What about Bill?"

"We can tell Bill that you're staying with one of us until you're better," Gustav announced his presence again.

"But I can't leave him here all alone..." Tom shook his head weakly.

"Prince Bill has been the one taking care of you - I think he's very capable of spending a few weeks here on his own," Georg pointed out.

"No... I don't want to leave him." Tom shook his head again.

"If you die, you will leave him in this mysery forever. Alone. Forgotten and unloved," Gustav said solemnly; Tom gave him a disturbed look.

"Alright fine..." Tom sighed, coughing a bit. "What did you tell me parents, anyway?"

"That you were visiting Constance of Roseanne. They think you're going to marry her soon," Gustav informed him calmly.

Tom nearly choked, coughing loudly while he tried to reprimend Gustav who just nodded passively.

Before Tom was able to get his voice back, Gustav excused himslef to go back to the palace to get the carriage. Exhausted, Tom lay back down, closing his eyes. He had never been this sick in his entire life.

"It'll be all right, my king," Georg said gently, brushing Tom's sweaty hair out of his face.

Tom just moaned in reponze, feeling too weak to say anything and fearing another cough attack.

What would become of Bill? He had to tell him... But what if he left him...?

On the other hand, this might not be such a bad thing... Tom smiled internally as a whole new plan came to his mind.

~*~

Exhausted, like every afternoon, Bill made his way home to give Tom something to eat, milk the goat, make the fire and clean the house; however, unlike every other afternoon, a large carriage, drawn by four white horses stood in their yard.

Bill froze as he saw the royal crest on the coach; what the hell was going on here...? Was the king here...? No, that couldn't be... That wasn't the king's carriage, just a normal one belonging to the palace...

Warily he stalked toward the cottage, past the four horses, towards the coach driver who had apparently fallen asleep on his post, and was leaning dangerously to the left. Would he fall over if Bill startled him...? It was a funny thought, but Bill was too concerned to be entertained right now.

"Excuse me?" He said quietly, poking the man's leg gently.

"Huh? What?" The man gave a quiet snort and sat up immediately, clearing his throat.

"Hello. What's going on?" It's not like Bill was trying to be rude, but he didn't have time for chitchat right now.

"Oh. Um... I have no idea. Master Gustav ordered me down here to pick up an ill friend of his or something." The man shrugged, looking a bit disgruntled – obviously he had been waiting quite a while.

Bill's heart began to pound hopefully – Gustav... was that one of Tom's squire friends? Maybe Georg wasn't as bad a friend as he had believed him to be...

Quickly he walked past he coach and across the yard to carefully open the door. Sure enough, there was squire Georg, Tom, and another man Bill didn't know – probably this Gustav fellow.

"Bill!" Tom smiled that weak smile that both delighted and worried Bill.

"What's going on?" Bill asked hesitantly as he walked into the house and closed the door to keep the cold out – it was pleasantly warm and Tom had a full cup of tea. A nice surprise for Bill who usually came home to a freezing cottage and a dead looking Tom.

"Tom will be staying at the palace until he feels better," Georg explained as he got up.

"Say what?" Bill asked in disbelief; the palace?! Why the palace?!?

"His mighty Majesty, King Thomas IV of Begonia has come to hear of his severe condition and has graciously allowed this lowlife peasant to stay in his luxurious palace for the remainder of his illness," the other man – Gustav – spoke up, receiving a weird look from Tom that was almost entertained. Bill wanted to punch him in the face – how dare he say something like that about Tom!

"What Gustav is trying to say," Georg interrupted just as Bill had opened his mouth to yell at the other man, "is that the king has heard of your current situation and would like to help you because-"

"We don't need the king's help!" Bill almost yelled, startling all other occupants; screw that damned king, he just wanted Bill to be indebted with him!

"Please, prince Willian, don't be such an arrogant son of a-"

Georg clapped his hand over Gustav's mouth. "What Gustav is trying to say, is that it would be for Tom's wellbeing, which is what we are all most interested in here, I believe, and the royal doctors are the best in the country so it would be very unwise to reject the king's offer."

"Fuck me," Bill grumbled angrily; he was upset about the king's offer, and about the fact that both of them obviously knew who he was... Wonderful.

"I beg your pardon?" Georg asked a bit shocked, releasing Gustav.

"And what does the king want in exchange for his degenerate- I mean generous gift?" Bill asked snidely, crossing his arms; he didn't like this idea at all, but what was he supposed to do? Without the stupid king's help, Tom would probably die...

"Nothing at all, he's just trying to be helpful," Georg assured him, but that was obviously rubbish. No king invited a peasant into his palace for the heck of it... What did the king want...? Was it some sort of revenge plot because Bill had humiliated him...? Did the king want an apology? A small price to pay for Tom's life...   
A few months ago, Bill wouldn't have apologized to anyone, not even if his own life depended on it, but now... Now it wasn't his life, it was Tom's... Which was basically the same thing because Tom had become his entire life, but whatever.

"Whatever..." He finally sighed, shaking his head. "Go then before he gets worse."

"You are, of course, also most welcome to come," Georg said gently while they prepared Tom to move him.

Bill stared at him in disbelief; was he serious? Wait... Why? Why would the king offer that? Surely there was something nasty behind it...

"The king has prepared extra quarters to host you both," Georg added as he put his coat back on and then helped Tom into his.

Bill wanted to cry – was he seriously being offered a place in the palace...? That meant no more making fires, chopping wood, milking goats... He would have a warm bed... And he could sleep an hour longer every day...

"No thank you. I need to stay here and take care of our house." Bill nodded firmly, wanting to die at his own choice, but he knew the king was up to something nasty and he didn't want to fall into whatever trap the king had prepared, even though he probably deserved it for what he had done to the poor guy...   
Besides... If he left, what would become of Goat? Bill was sure the king wouldn't allow Goat in his palace, so he would just stay here.

"Are you sure?" Tom asked quietly, trying not to cough; he looked very disappointed.

"I'm sure." Bill nodded again. "I'll be here when you get better." He hoped his smile was braver than he felt right now – staying here all alone scared him senseless, but he had no choice.

"We'll bring him back as soon as possible." Georg smiled while Gustav gave Bill a polite nod, and then they left. Tom didn't say anything at all; he just gave Bill a rather sad look and then went out the door.

Bill watched through the window as the three men got into the carriage and then it drove away, leaving Bill all alone. For the first time in his life, he was absolutely alone. What was he supposed to do now?

"Goat! Where are you? I need to cuddle so get in here!"


	26. Chapter 26

Tom sighed as he finally lay down in the comfortable bed in the palace; he had missed this place so much over the past few weeks. It would be perfect bliss weren't it for the fact that he felt as if he were dying, and Bill had refused to come, effectively ruining his new plan. Damn Bill... Why did he have to be so suspicious and complicated?!

Of course the five doctors currently fussing over him weren't making him feel very comfortable, but at least they would help him on the long run... Hopefully.

Now it only left the Bill problem... What was he supposed to do if Bill refused to come to the palace? It was almost winter – what if he didn't get better until spring? He couldn't leave Bill there all winter...

~*~

Feeling very forlorn, Bill wandered around the cottage, cleaning and restacking the wood. What was he supposed to do here all alone?   
The only company he had was goat who was currently standing in the middle of the cottage, munching on a small hay bale.

Well at least Tom was being taken care of.

And so, Bill's sad life continued without Tom. The next morning, he went back to the kitchen, despite really just wanting to stay in bed and be miserable all day.

"I have great news," he whispered at Natalie while they prepared lunch. "A friend of Tom's, Georg, is taking care of Tom! I'm so relieved."

"Really?" Natalie asked happily. "That's so nice of him! Did he move Tom over to his house or something?"

Bill decided to leave the king out of this. "Yes. He's a squire here so he can afford a doctor and all. Maybe Tom will get better soon."

"You mean Georg Listing?" Natalie asked surprised.

"Yes. You know him?" Bill gave her a surprised look.

"Oh yeah, his parents are good friends of David's." Oh right. "And he's a really close friend of the king's. Having him as a friend can only be a good thing! That's so great!" She beamed happily.

"Oh. Yeah. Great." Bill forced a smile; Georg was a personal friend of the king's?! Wait... Was that why the king had allowed Tom to stay there? Maybe it had nothing to do with Bill... Maybe the king wasn't vindictive and evil but just wanted to help Georg's friend...?

Who happened to be Bill's husband! No way. That king was up to something. Right?

"Hey Nat..." Bill said thoughtfully as they finished cutting vegetables. "Do you think the king holds a grudge against the prince from Geraneia for what happened back then?"

Natalie raised an eyebrow and shrugged a bit. "I don't know... According to what I've heard, his majesty is not very resentful, but who knows... I don't think so though, I've never heard of him holding any grudges against people, or even being angry about mishaps – unlike many other royals." She chuckled a bit, shaking her head.

"Oh... Yeah... I know that kind," Bill said drily, remembering a million occasions when he had blown up in someone's face over nothing.

"Why do you ask?" She gave him a funny look.

"Just wondering."

"Oh... Well you know what I heard on the market today? That Queen Elena forced Prince William to marry a penniless beggar because of what he did to King Thomas!" She whispered with wide eyes.

"What?" Bill squawked shrilly, quickly clearing his throat.

"Yeah! Supposedly she was super angry because her son was a spoiled brat, and now no one knows where he is or what happened to him. No one has seen him for months!" She said dramatically. "I wonder what the king will say when he hears about that..."

Bill wanted to cry; he couldn't believe everyone knew about that! Even here in Begonia! This was a nightmare!

"I guess it serves him right," Bill ground out bitterly.

"Oh come on, Bill, have a heart! The poor kid... Being forced to marry a complete stranger and losing everything he ever had? It must be awful." Natalie shook her head and Bill gave a her a weird look; she pitied him even without knowing him? Maybe that's why... Had she known him, she would probably be laughing about it...

"Supposedly the queens regret it now though," Natalie continued.

"What?" Bill's head snapped up, staring at her.

"Yeah. I heard they were looking for him, but no one had any idea where he went cuz no one knows who he married. There's been no trace of him ever since the day he got married, and people are starting to think he's dead. His mothers sent out squires to search for him all over the kingdom, and even neighboring kingdoms, but no one has seen him," Natalie narrated mysteriously with a tragic face. "Poor guy... But I guess that was to be expected if you marry your kid off to a complete stranger... That could have been a total psycho! Maybe he abused and killed the poor prince!" By now she was all worked up.

"What's going on here?" David demanded, towering over them all of a sudden.

"N-nothing, sir. Bill and I were just discussing the news from Geraneia – about prince William going missing," she said quickly, bowing her head a bit.

David snorted and rolled his eyes. "Whatever! We don't have time for gossip! Lunch needs to be ready in two hours so get to it!"

"Yes, sir," Both Natalie and Bill mumbled, giggling quietly once he had stomped away.

Bill couldn't believe this news had travelled all the way over here... And even less that his mothers were searching for him... Did that mean he could go home? Maybe this was his chance to go back to his old life!

But wait... Did he even want that...?   
Of course he did! Palace. Breakfast in bed. Nice clothes. Lots of money. Servants. Amazing food. No Tom...   
No. That was definitely not what he wanted...   
But he hated being poor!  
But he loved Tom. And Goat...  
But he hated chopping wood and having to work and all that other crap...   
But without Tom, his life in the palace would be so empty...  
But he would have a palace again!  
But there would be no Tom in it.

"Ugh!" Bill grumbled frustrated, forcefully tossing the peels into the trash.

"What?" Natalie asked a bit taken aback.

"Sorry... I'm just frustrated because I gave up learning to cook with David." Thank god he had always lied a lot to his mothers – it made his life so much easier here.

"Well why didn't you just say so!" David said brightly, startling both Bill and Natalie who hadn't seen him standing behind them. "You can start today in the afternoon!"

That guy's mood swings were scary sometimes.

No, Bill decided. He would not go home to Geraneia. His mothers had thoughtlessly married him off to someone who, like Natalie said, could have been a total psycho who abused him – for all he cared, his mothers and the rest of the world could believe him to be dead. In a certain way it was true: the Bill they had once known didn't exist anymore, and he had no desire to ever become that person again.  
He would stay here and master this life; he would become a chef and work his way out of the misery they lived in, and he would remain with Tom – the love of his life.

~*~

It had been nearly a week since Tom had moved to the palace, and though he was still sick, he was already feeling quite a lot better with the doctors' medicine and general amazingness of living in a palace. Or at least in a place that was warm and draft proof.

"Trudy?" Tom rasped, barely having a voice at this point.

The maid came over immediately. "Yes, your Majesty, what may I do for you?" There was always someone around, watching over him 24 hours a day in case he needed something. It was actually a bit annoying.

"Could you please fetch Georg or Gustav for me?" He asked hoarsely, trying not to cough.

"Right away, your Majesty." She nodded, hurrying out of the room.

Tom sighed, lying his head back down. He was so bored... Now that he was feeling a bit better, he began getting bored. Plus he wanted to see Bill. Why hadn't Bill come to visit him? How could he just abandon him like that? Tom felt strangely betrayed.   
He had offered Bill a place in the palace and it had been his plan for Bill to love it here, so he wouldn't hate him as much when Tom finally told him the truth, but the prince seemed to have no interest in even coming to visit, much less staying for good.

"Your Majesty, what can we do for you?" Gustav asked as they finally arrived.

"How're you feeling, my king?" Georg sat on the chair by his bed.

"Bored." Tom sighed. "Where's Bill?"

The Gs exchanged a suspicious glance before Georg sighed. "A few days ago, news reached Begonia that Queen Arabella and Queen Elena are searching for Bill. Apparently they regretted their decision to marry him quite soon and have been trying to find him for a while already, but no one has any idea where he went off to. If Bill hasn't heard about it yet, he soon will – chances are he's going back home."

Tom wanted to howl in frustration, but ended up just coughing miserably. After everything he had done, was that going to be it? Was Bill just going to go home like that? Was that why he hadn't visited him? Tom wanted to cry in frustration.

"Oh." Was all he ended up saying. Of course it made sense – given the choice, Bill would never choose him over the life he had led prior to their marriage – Tom stood no chance against that, and he knew it.

"Has he still been showing up at the kitchen?" Tom asked sadly.

"Yes. I saw him today in the morning." Gustav confirmed.

"Can you search for him tomorrow and ask him to come over? I have a new plan." Tom made up his mind.

"As king or beggar?" Georg chuckled, raising an eyebrow.

~*~

"I'll see you later, Goat." Bill waved as he left in the morning, wadding through the freezing snow; he hated winter.

The trip to the palace seemed twice as long when he had to walk it in the snow, and by the time he got there his feet were so cold he thought they might have died.

"Bill!" Someone called him just as he was about to enter the kitchen.

"Oh, hey Georg. How's Tom?" Bill asked immediately as he saw the squire approaching him; he hadn't heard anything from Tom in at least a week and was dead worried about him.

"Much better already." Georg smiled with a nod, alleviating the concern that had been eating Bill up for days; he had been so worried he had almost gone up to the palace a few times to try and see him, but had always decided against it.

"Actually he sent me to ask you if you wanted to come up today later to see him," Georg continued, jerking his head in the general direction of the palace.

"Oh..." Bill said hesitantly; he wasn't sure if he wanted to do that... How many people up there knew who he was...? Were they all laughing at him because he ended up married to a beggar instead of their king...? The mere thought made Bill want to die. "I don't have time today. When is he coming home?"

"You don't have time?" Georg asked drily. "What's got you so busy?" Obviously he didn't believe that.

"Things," Bill snapped angrily; he didn't care what the guy thought, he didn't want to go up to the palace. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do," he added coldly, walking into the kitchen.

"Wait, Bill!" Georg ran after him, following him to the back of the kitchen where Bill dropped his coat to begin working.

"I know you have a lot of things to do, but Tom would really like to see you," Georg said apologetically, but Bill just glared at him.

"He can see me once he comes back home," Bill said acidly, beginning his mourning routine of preparing breakfast with Natalie who looked a bit freaked out.

"Georg! What are you doing here at this hour? Unless you're here to work, get out, we got things to do!" David barked at Georg who looked very indecisive but eventually turned around and left.

"What was that?" Natalie whispered, staring after Georg.

"Ugh," Bill grumbled darkly, "He wants me to go visit Tom."

Natalie raised an eyebrow. "And that's... bad?"

Of course viewed from her point of view it was great because she had no idea that the king was trying to kill him. "I just don't have time right now."

"You don't have time to go visit your sick husband?" She asked in disbelief, placing her hands on her hips. "Bill! Shame on you! The poor guy is half dead and you won't even go see him?" She reprimanded him immediately.

Bill sighed, mentally rolling his eyes. "He's not dying Natalie, he's well taken care of! He's perfectly fine, I'm sure."

"But he loves you and would probably feel much better if he sees your beautiful face, so stop being a dick and go see him after your shift!" She said sternly.

Bill was slightly taken aback by her commanding tone so he didn't dare object. "Okay, okay. I'll go see him in the afternoon..."

Oh this would be such a disaster... Hopefully this wasn't some horrid trap by the king to humiliate him in front of the entire world just the way Bill had done to him.


	27. Chapter 27

Tom felt strangely betrayed when Georg told him Bill didn't want to see him. He wanted nothing more than to see his beloved's radiant smile, yet Bill couldn't even be bothered to come up to the palace to see him.

It had been Tom's plan to receive Bill in a large audience where he could tell his parents everything that had happened and declare his undying love for him (and beg for forgiveness, of course, though he had hoped that Bill wouldn't reject him with the entire court being present) but again, Bill had effectively ruined all his plans and good intentions.

How could Bill do this to him? Did he not care about him at all?   
Over the past few weeks, especially since he had gotten sick, he'd been so sure that Bill cared about him. Even though Bill didn't ever say it with words, the prince's actions spoke volumes. He had never once complained about having to take care of Tom, no matter how exhausted he was or how terrible Tom's illness got. He had always been there for him... Had he just been following his duty? And now that he knew Tom was being taken care of elsewhere, he didn't care about him anymore? Was the prince intending to go back home to his kingdom? What if he just left? What if they would never see each other again? What if Tom had just missed the last chance to ever tell him the truth?!

"Trudy!" Tom called, getting out of bed and grabbing his morning coat against the chilly air.

"Your Majesty, what may I do for you?" Trudy came in from the lobby in his chambers, looking concerned. "The doctors said you shouldn't get up," she mumbled awkwardly.

"I'm fine, Trudy. Could you please go get one of the Gs for me?" Tom began searching for his clothes in his giant wardrobe that was filled with more clothes than he could ever wear in a lifetime.

"B-but Your Majesty..." Trudy said hesitantly.

"Go, go. I need to attend to some very important issues. And I'm feeling a lot better," He assured her. It was party true – he had a new plan and it immediately made him feel better. He was determined to keep Bill from going back to Geraneia, no matter the cost.

Trudy hurried away while Tom dressed as quickly as possible, in the simplest clothes he could find – it's not like he could just change into his rags in the middle of a freezing forest while being ill. Besides... those clothes weren't winter suitable, ill or not.

After making sure he put on enough warm coats, he waited around for the Gs to finally arrive. By the time they did, he was so warm under all the clothes he was almost sweating.

"My King – what's going on here?" Georg asked concerned.

"No time to lose. Let's go," Tom said determined, getting up and walking past them towards the door.

"But Your Majesty!" Trudy and Gustav said in unison, exchanging an awkward glance afterwards.

"No," Tom said firmly, shaking his head. "I'm leaving."

"Leaving?!" Trudy shrieked outraged, clapping her hands over her mouth and giving him a fearful look.

"Guys." Tom nodded at them. Neither of them looked very convinced but they followed him out into the hall.

"You should be in bed, Your Majesty," Gustav said quietly once they walked down the hall.

"Didn't you hear Georg? Bill said he would wait for me at home." Of course Tom had no idea whether that was true or if Bill had just said that to get Georg off his back, but he was determined to find out.

"Your home is here. Especially while ill!" Gustav argued urgently.

"No!" Tom said a bit loudly, earning a few curious looks from the guards. "You guys have to cover for me. I need you in this," he said earnestly, giving them a pleading look.

The squires exchanged a worried glance, but Georg finally nodded. "Alright. But take a horse there. Say it's mine and you're borrowing it until you feel better. If you get worse, promise me you'll come to us, my King."

Tom nodded hesitantly. "I will."

"You better." Gustav said passively. "You're still not healthy and could die of a very painful congestive heart failure. Especially because we don't even know if prince Bill intends to stay there. For all we know, he already abandoned you and will leave you to die and decompose alone."

"What Gusti is trying to say, is that you should come back immediately if things don't go according to whatever plan you may or may not have, my King," Georg nodded, guiding him down to the stables. "We'll make up some excuse with your parents and make sure Trudy doesn't say anything."

"Right then." Tom cleared his throat, suddenly a bit nervous; what if Bill had left? What if Tom really did get worse and ended up dead...? He really didn't want to die... Though Bill was so worth a heart failure.

And so, the three of them rode the snowy path through the icy forest towards the small cottage that Bill had inhabited alone for various weeks already. Tom was deeply impressed that the prince hadn't simply died, though worry over it kept him sending his squires to check on him regularly, to make sure he wasn't lying around dying somewhere, but Bill seemed to have a pretty good grip on things.

Since Bill was still at work, the squires accompanied him into the cottage and made fire while Tom lay down, trying not to show them how exhausted and cold he was from the horrible journey. The cottage was freezing cold and the bed horribly uncomfortable; he had almost forgotten how awful it was here. 

"All right." Georg nodded once he set a warm cup of tea next to the bed. "Shall we put the goat outside before we leave?" he asked awkwardly, giving the goat a weird look.

Goat bleated loudly upon being mentioned.

"No, it's fine. I can use the company." Tom laughed a bit, trying not to cough.

"Right then." Georg chuckled a bit while Gustav shook his head in disapproval.

"I gave the horse some water and hay in the wood shack. Which is almost empty, by the way... I think in about two or three weeks, you will have run out of wood, so whatever your plan is, execute it quickly or you will both freeze to death here," Gustav said passively.

"Oh... Great. Okay. I will. I'll see you guys soon."

~*~

Nervously, Bill stalked up to the palace entrance after his shift was finally over that day. He had thoroughly washed his hands and face, and hoped his clothes looked remotely clean... Of course he knew he looked like crap, but it's not like he had much chance to change before going there.  
Would he run into the king? And the rest of court? The mere thought made Bill want to vomit, but he was driven with the anxious desire to see Tom again. Despite having tried to suppress it as much as possible due to their miserable situation, he couldn't deny that he truly cared for the minstrel and was dying to see him again to make sure he was doing ok.

Swallowing his nausea, he stopped in front of the guards who gave him a disapproving look.

"What do you want?" One of them asked gruffly.

"Um..." Bill stuttered. "I'm supposed to see my... Um. Squire Georg asked me to come here." Stupid. What was he supposed to say? His husband?? No none knew who that was!

"I got no notification of that. Be gone!" He shooed Bill away with a glare.

"But I-"

"Away with you, kitchen boy, before we throw you in jail for public disturbance!" The other guard pointed his spear at him.

Bill gasped, taking a few steps back and then running away with one last glance back at the guards who were still glaring at him until he disappeared behind the row of snow-covered bushes decorating the palace yards.

'Didn't that just go swell,' Bill thought drily as he stalked out of the palace grounds. He didn't even have his basket with food today... That meant he had to prepare himself some dinner. Wonderful.

With a heavy sigh, he began the long, cold journey to his lonely cottage. He hated his life. And he missed Tom so much it made him want to cry.

Already before reaching the clearing a good hour later, Bill saw the smoke rising from their cottage and began to run towards it, fearing something had happened, until he saw it was coming out of the chimney. Who had made a fire?! Surely it wasn't Goat. Could it be that Tom had come back...? No way...

Anxiously, Bill ran through the small wooden gate, just to pause as he saw a horse standing in the wood shack. Since when did Tom have a horse...?

"Hello?" Bill whispered, approaching the shack with the hay-munching horse that gave him an unimpressed glance as he approached.

Hanging over a woodpile, was the horse's saddle, pad and reins, all showing the royal emblem; obviously this horse was from the palace. What if someone had come over to tell him Tom was dead?!

Horrified, Bill stormed into the cottage, nearly stumbling on his way into the pleasantly warm room where he found Tom. Not dead, but safe and sound tucked into bed and sleeping.

"Ngh," Tom moaned tiredly, opening his eyes as Bill shut the door to keep the cold out.

"Tom!" He whispered in delight, rushing over to the bed; he wanted to pounce on him and kiss him to death, but the minstrel looked weak and tired, so he restrained himself.

"Bill." Tom smiled feebly.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the palace!" Bill scolded immediately.

"Georg told me you didn't want to come see me there, so I decided to come over here instead." The minstrel gave him such a miserable look Bill wanted to slap himself.

"No, I did... I mean... I didn't at first, but then I went to the palace but they didn't let me in." Ugh, why hadn't he just told the squire that he would go? Now Tom left the palace... What if he got a lot worse again?

"Really?" Tom's dejection turned into delight immediately, making him look far less ill.

"Yeah. I'm sorry." Bill shook his head, sitting down on the bed next to the minstrel. "I was just being stupid in the morning... I did want to see you though. We have to get you back to the palace..."

"No." Tom shook his head immediately. "I want to stay here with you."

Bill wanted to hug him and cry, the last week weeks weighing down on him heavier than any other ever had in his life, but he composed himself quickly. "Wouldn't it be much better if you stayed over there though? What was going on anyway? I heard Georg is a friend of the king or something, right? Were they nice to you? Did any doctors tend to you?"

~*~

Tom almost laughed in delight at Bill's concern; the prince cared about him! It was great.

"They were very nice and I had a lot of doctors, but I'm feeling well enough to stay here now. I'm almost back to normal so-"

"But what if you get worse again?" Bill interrupted worried.

"Georg left me his horse. If I get worse again, I can go back," Tom assured the concerned prince.

"Oh... all right... But..." Bill looked very indecisive.

"I missed you. I would much rather be here with you." Tom decided to just play with open cards – or as open as they could be. He had had long weeks to contemplate his feelings and the situation, and he realized he didn't want to pretend anymore. He wanted Bill to know just how much he meant to him.

"Oh..." Bill looked a bit flustered and chewed around on his lip while he nodded. "Okay... But... I have to work. I can't be here all the time..."

"It's okay. You can take Georg's horse to work – you'll be a lot faster." Just being in Bill's presence already made Tom feel healthy; he'd be okay alone for a few hours.

~*~

Bill nodded numbly, still trying to process all that. Tom wanted to be with him! And he had a horse to go to work! Both of those were totally awesome, but Tom was still sick...

"Are you okay?" Tom asked softly.

Bill sniffed quietly, slightly overcome by the entire sudden situation. "I'm so tired," He whispered stupidly. "And I missed you so much."

Not caring what the man might think of him, he crawled under the cowers, snuggling close to him; he was so exhausted of this life and really needed someone who would return his cuddles. Goat was a bit deficient in that department.

Luckily Tom didn't seem to mind at all because he wrapped his arms tightly around him, holding him close. "I missed you too."


	28. Chapter 28

Over the next week, Bill rode Georg's horse to the palace every day, delighted he didn't have to walk anymore, and delighted that he could ride again; he had actually missed it a lot. Someday they needed to be rich enough to afford horses again.   
Though as grateful as Bill was for the horse, he knew they couldn't keep it for much longer because they were running out of hay; the horse ate nearly five times as much as the goat, and they didn't have enough to feed him. At this rate, they might even have to sell Goat... Unless Bill somehow managed to buy more hay somewhere.

And so, today after his shift, Bill decided to ask around for that a bit; he would start with Natalie.

"Hey Nat," he approached her casually while cleaning up to go home; he had his little basket all packed and ready to go.

"Yeah?" Natalie smiled cheerfully.

"I was wondering if you knew anyone who sold hay?" Bill had no idea where people even got hay from; he and Tom had made a bit from the field behind the cottage, but it was nowhere near enough to feed a horse.

"Hay? At this time of year?" Natalie asked with a frown. "Hm... That's going to be hard to find. Did you guys not manage to make enough in summer?"

"Well... Since now we have Georg's horse, we're running out. I don't know what to do... I know I have to give the horse back, but what about my goat? I don't really want to get rid of her," Bill mumbled stupidly.

"Oh. Uhm... Maybe ask Georg about it? He has access to the palace hay resources – maybe he can get you a little bit? A goat doesn't eat much – I'm sure no one would even notice." Natalie shrugged a bit.

"You really think he could do that?" Bill didn't really want to ask Georg given how rude he had been to him last time, but... what choice did he have? He didn't want to sell Goat.

"I don't know, but it's worth asking. I don't think anyone outside the palace has enough hay to be able to give you any."

Natalie was probably right. With a heavy sigh, Bill mentally prepared himself to approach the palace again; that hadn't gone so well last time. Hopefully he would be luckier today.

As he neared the palace's entrance, he saw that the two guards there were the same ones who had sent him away last time. Great.

"Hello," Bill said awkwardly, receiving the same degrading looks from the guards.

"What do you want, kitchen boy?" One of them asked in the same tone as last time.

"I'm looking for squire Georg... Could I see him, please?" Actually Bill just wanted to yell at them, how dare they treat him like this, but since they had no idea who he was – or had once been – there was no point unless he wanted to land in jail.

The guards exchanged a glance. "I'll get him," one of them finally said, retreating into the palace.

"Thank you," Bill said politely, hoping the squire was around somewhere.

It took quite a while for the guard to come back, while Bill and the second guard were just standing there in awkward silence.

"Follow me." The guard motioned for him to follow, and Bill awkwardly trailed after the man, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone. Hopefully he wouldn't run into someone like the king or something.

They remained on the ground floor, walking through the large, luxurious halls towards the east end of the palace, where they entered a large training room containing various squires who all looked over at him.

Bill swallowed nervously, trying to spot Georg among them, but he wasn't there. Finally, they had passed through the large room and exited into a small yard where Bill immediately saw Georg and that other squire who had picked Tom up; they were honing swords and looked up as Bill approached.

"Thank you, Edgar." Georg nodded at the guard who left after a polite nod. "Good to see you, Bill. How're you and Tom doing?"

Bill knew Georg was mostly just interested in Tom's well-being and just asking to be polite. "Good. I'm actually here to return your horse."

"Is Tom all healthy again?" Georg asked a bit surprised.

"Almost." Bill nodded slowly.

"I'd rather you keep the horse a bit longer, just in case," Georg said slowly. "I don't need him at the moment anyway."

"We can't. We don't have enough hay to feed him, but thank you very much." Bill really regretted having to give the horse back because that meant he had to walk the entire way again.

"Oh..." Georg nodded. "I will arrange some hay to be taken to your cottage. Would you be requiring anything else?"

Bill stared at him in disbelief; was Georg joking? He didn't seem to be though... "No, thank you very much."

"Are you sure? When we dropped Tom off, I noticed you barely have any wood left. Should we bring some?" Georg asked, concern flashing in his eyes.

"Why would you do that?" Bill asked suspiciously.

"Because Tom is a dear friend of ours, despite being a pathetic beggar who will never mount to anything and can in no way be compared to a king," Gustav announced his presence.

So that's what this was about...

"Gustav!" Georg snapped in annoyance.

The squire was mad at Bill for having turned down his king... "I'm sorry," Bill cut off whatever Georg had been about to say. "If it's ever appropriate, please tell His Majesty how that what happened back then had never been my intention and I'm deeply sorry for the grief I caused him."

"Oh don't worry." Gustav smiled. "His Majesty knows all about the piteous existence you now lead and the pathetic circumstances you will spend the rest of your beggarly life in. He knows your sorry and he doesn't give a-"

Georg clapped his hand over the other squires' mouth. "What Gustav is trying to say, is that we will most certainly pass your regrets on to King Thomas, and we'd be delighted to help you and Tom out."

"Right... Well... Thank you," Bill said a bit hesitantly; that squire sure knew how to hold a grudge.

Georg smiled, releasing his friend. "So we'll add some wood to the hay delivery then. Do you also need food supplies?"

"That's not what I was trying to say," Gustav grumbled at Georg, sending him a dark look.

"Of course it is," Georg assured him with a nod. "So Bill – food?"

"Um, no. Thank you, we've got." Bill looked back and forth between the two squires, but this didn't seem to be out of the ordinary. "Besides I always get some from the kitchen anyway."

"Where you are doomed to spend the rest of your disgraceful life. Good choice you made." Gustav smiled again as he got up and disappeared into the training room.

Bill looked at Georg with a freaked out expression.

The squire sighed, shaking his head. "I'm sorry about Gusti, he can be a bit..."

"Psychotic?" Bill offered helpfully.

"Yes! Exactly the word I was looking for." Georg grinned cheerfully. "But don't worry – he cares a lot about Tom and just wants him to be happy," the squire assured quickly.

"Uh-huh." Bill gave him a dubitative look.

After talking to the squires, Bill returned home with new hope for Goat; maybe they would really be able to keep her.

"Tom!" He said happily as he entered; Tom was sitting at the table, looking kinda bored.

"Hey!" He said happily, getting up. "Everything okay?" Obviously the minstrel knew how late he was.

"Yes, yes. I talked to Georg and that other really weird friend of yours."

"Gustav?"

"That one. They are going to help us with hay and wood so we won't die," Bill said brightly, clapping his hands.

"That's great! So we can keep the horse and Goat?" Tom asked hopefully.

"Yes! Speaking of which...What's that horse's name?" Bill had often wondered because he didn't know what to refer it as; horse just sounded impersonal.

"...I don't know." Tom shook his head, looking amused.

"Maybe we should give it a name while he's living with us. I was thinking Matt. Or Mathew? Michael? How about Mark? Martin!" Bill said enthusiastically. "Or we could just call him Fredrick. Fred for short."

"...Right..." Tom said slowly, looking a bit uncertain.

"Fred it is then." Bill nodded happily.

"Great." Tom laughed. "Fred it is."

"So anyway..." Bill began slowly while he unpacked the food for Tom. "Georg seems nice."

"Yes, he's great. They both are – Gusti just comes across as slightly psychotic but you get used to that," Tom said while the began eating.

"Uh huh." Bill nodded with a raised eyebrow, nibbling on a few vegetables; he wasn't actually hungry because he had eaten lunch at the kitchens. "I think Gustav hates me," he added thoughtfully.

Tom looking up from his plate, raising an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"I think he's mad at me for what I said to King Thomas..." Bill shrugged. "Isn't he a friend of yours?"

"Oh... um... Yes. But I'm sure he doesn't hate you. He's just also good friends with the king," Tom dismissed casually.

"And he would rather see me with the king than you?" Bill had been thinking about that on his way home; why was Gustav angry that Bill had gotten married to Tom instead of his king...?

Tom stopped eating, looking a bit uncertain. "What? Did he say that?"

"Kinda. He said I made a terrible choice." Bill gave him an expectant look.

"Except it wasn't really your choice... It was just your choice not to marry King Thrushbeard," Tom pointed out with a teasing smirk.

"Shut up." Bill laughed, throwing a radish at him. "I know that... But..." He got a bit more serious again, "Gustav still seems to hate me for it. Why?"

The minstrel rolled his eyes. "Gustav is just a bit touchy that's all. Don't worry about it."

"Hm..." Bill nodded, remembering what else the squire had said; pathetic beggar who will never mount to anything was what he had called Tom. Who said that about their friend?

"You've been friends with those two for a long time, right?" Bill asked once Tom had gone back to his late lunch.

"Oh yeah, since we were kids." Tom smiled fondly.

"How come they became squires and you became nothing?" Bill asked before he could stop himself. "I mean... that's not what I meant. I meant... You know what I mean," He added quickly.

Tom nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know what you mean. It's because they... became squires while I was free and traveled the world to see all its wonders."

~*~

That wasn't actually true, but Tom wished it were so. He had always wanted to travel so much, but due to his father's illness he had never gotten the chance. Being a carefree minstrel who travelled from town to town without a worry or care in the world was just a pathetic fantasy of his.

Bill raised an eyebrow amused. "Really? You were always just traveling around? Never staying long in one place?"

"Yeah, exactly."

"Hm..." Bill smiled suspiciously. "Then why are you here now?"

Tom stared at him for a moment. "Because we're married and live here." This was not moving in a good direction, right?

"Yes, but it's not like you bought this house the day we married, right?" Bill raised an eyebrow; Tom couldn't define whether his suspicion was amused or angry, though it looked more amused.

"Um... Well... No." Crap! What was he supposed to say now?! "Actually..." This was the perfect moment to come clean! But so not what he had planned...

"Actually?" Bill asked with another smile; obviously he knew Tom hadn't always been honest with him...

Tom sighed heavily. "I have to tell you something."

The prince nodded. "Tell me."

But what if Bill hated him? What if he left? Maybe he should wait until late in the evening so Bill wouldn't be able to run away...

"I heard in the palace that your mothers are looking for you." Maybe it would buy him some time so he could figure out how to do this.

Bill frowned a bit. "Yes, I heard. What's that got to do with anything?"

"Why didn't you go back?" That was actually something Tom was really interested in hearing.

"You don't know?" Bill asked quietly, giving him a slightly unsure look.

"No. I thought you would leave the moment you heard about it... It's actually why I wanted to come back despite not being so healthy yet..." He finally uttered one truth; he was so tired of pretending he didn't care.

"I don't want to leave... I love... it here," Bill said uncertainly; was it Tom's imagination that he had wanted to say something else? No way...

"Oh..." It didn't matter. Even if Bill didn't want to say it, at least Tom knew he cared about him. "I'm really happy about that."

Bill nodded. "Yeah... so... Why do you have a cottage, which looked like no one had been living in it for ten years, despite the garden being tended to and there being fire wood? And a goat?" Obviously the prince hadn't been distracted enough. Damn.

Tom sighed again, running a hand through his hair. "Um... Georg got me this place." It was kinda true.

"Okay..." Bill nodded. "But you weren't living here."

"No... I wasn't." Tom nodded.

The prince didn't look convinced at all. "Then why did you have it? It's not like Georg just goes around giving people cottages with gardens and goats if they have no intention to live there."

Tom was so nervous he could feel his heartbeat in his throat. "I don't want you to be angry at me..." How could he explain this to Bill without being left? Was there even a way out of this? How could he have been so stupid as to lie like this?! He was usually a lot smarter than to do something as retarded as this.

"I won't be," Bill assured him with a soft smile, but no matter how much Tom wanted to believe him, he wasn't sure he could.

But of course he didn't really have much of a choice; he had to tell him something and it might as well be the truth unless he wanted to make it even worse by lying more. "Remember when I told you about having seen you down by the lake?" He began carefully.

Bill nodded. "What about it?" The prince's eyes showed that he knew where Tom was going, but wanted to hear it anyway.

"Um..." Oh what the hell. "I fell totally in love with you from the moment I saw you and heard you singing."

Bill's eyes widened in surprise, but he said nothing.

"And then... and then I heard about what happened with the king... and what your mother said... So I went to the palace because I knew the queen would force you to marry me and that was the only way I could ever be with you. I asked Georg to get this place for us and forced you into a miserable, penniless life with me because I couldn't live without you anymore."


	29. Chapter 29

Bill's head was spinning from the overload of emotions it was receiving. He was torn between absolute anger and utter delight. He couldn't believe Tom had willingly forced him into this life! If Tom hadn't shown up, maybe Bill would still be living in the palace!

Wait... he could also go back to the palace now if he wanted to... But now he couldn't enjoy it so much anymore! Ugh! How could Tom have done this?!

Oh right, he had done it because... he couldn't live without him. 'Omg, most romantic thing anyone ever said to me!' Bill swooned internally. But the minstrel had forced him into a freezing, dirty cottage and into a job at the palace kitchen! At King Thurshbeard's palace!

~*~

Tom held his breath while he watched the emotions stampede over the prince's features. If he forgave him this, there was a chance for them; now that he thought about it, this was the perfect way to do this because if Bill didn't forgive him, at least he wouldn't know Tom was the king so there was no threat for war. And if Bill was able to forgive him this, surely he would forgive him once he found out the whole truth?

Suddenly Bill got up so forcefully that he knocked the chair over. "You knew," he stated passively.

Tom nodded hesitantly. "I'm so sorry... I know how wrong it was. I know it was a stupid idea-"

"What were you thinking?!" The prince suddenly yelled. "Are you crazy? Do you have any idea what you made me go through?!"

Nodding miserably, Tom looked away, unable to gaze into Bill's angry eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"Ugh! How could you do this to me!" Bill's voice began breaking and he fell silent, at which point Tom dared to look at him again; he didn't look angry, just sad. "You ruined my entire life..."

"I'm so sorry, Bill," Tom repeated again. "I don't know what I was thinking... I guess I wasn't thinking anything – I was just..."

"Just what?" Bill asked weakly, sniffing quietly.

"Crazy about you. You were all I could think of... I wasn't able to think of any consequences my stupid actions might have... And despite only being able to think of you, I didn't think about you at all. Or at least not on the effect any of this would have on you, or how terrible it would be for you. And I don't even have a good apology..." Tom regretted softly.

The prince sat down on the bed, staring at the floor; despite having seen him very miserable, Tom wasn't sure he had ever seen him as sad as now.   
Hesitantly he got up and walked over to him, kneeling down in front of him.

"Bill... I'm so sorry. I would take it all back if I could."

"What?" Bill squeaked, clearing his throat. "Does that mean you regret it?"

"Um... Yes. Of course." Tom nodded, immediately realizing that wasn't what the prince had wanted to hear, given he looked even sadder than before, if that was possible. "But not like that!" He added quickly. "I meant because it hurt you. Not because I regret being with you – of course not."

Bill gave him a weird look. "Really? You didn't regret that despite me being a total jerk?" The prince smiled feebly, rekindling Tom's hope.

"No!" He laughed. "Of course not... Besides... you're not that bad," He added with a tentative grin.

Bill gave a soft laugh before sighing with a nod. "I bet you didn't know anything about me or how nasty I could be, huh?"

"Actually I did know that... I heard all about the rather... mean way in which you turned everyone down – not just King Th-"

"Don't say it!"

"Thomas – but also everyone else, too." Tom chuckled a bit.

"And you still wanted to marry me? Are you crazy or just masochistic?" Bill smiled a bit more.

"Maybe a bit of both." Tom nodded; the prince's smile meant he wouldn't leave him, right? "I'm really sorry, Bill. If you'll let me, I'll gladly spend the rest of our lives making it up to you."

~*~

Bill stared down at the minstrel still kneeling in front of him, reminding him of a wedding proposal; in a certain way it was because if Bill refused now, he would be able to go back to his life...

But did he want to?

Of course not. He had decided that already... The fact that Tom had done this on purpose and lied to him didn't change that, despite that he felt somewhat betrayed and hurt, but not enough to walk away. Besides, it wasn't actually true, right? Tom hadn't really ruined his life... Or had he? It's not like Bill had had such a great life before – he had just always thought he did – but looking back, it was shallow and devoid of any meaning whatsoever.

With a hesitant smile, he leaned a bit down, winding his arms around the minstrel's neck to finally give him a kiss he'd been waiting for since the man had gotten ill all those weeks ago. Tom immediately pulled him closer, wrapping his arms around him in a gentle embrace.

Though Bill was still somewhat shaken about finding all that out, it had been something like what he had been expecting; he knew Tom had lied to him about something, and he was glad it wasn't anything worse. Nevertheless, it would take him a while to get over it.

But maybe not all that long... He had missed the minstrel so much while he'd been at the palace. And after all, there was something intriguing about Tom having married him on purpose... Sure, it had led to him being a peasant, but it also meant Tom hadn't just married him because the queen had said so, but because he had really wanted to. Everyone else had only been interested in marrying Bill for his future crown and kingdom, but Tom... Tom had gained nothing but a really snarky husband out of it, which he had known in advance.   
It was probably the best marriage he could have gotten. Putting aside the peasant thing, of course.

~*~

As much as Tom wanted to push the prince down on the bed and finally do what he'd been wanting to do for a long time, he was far too ill for that right now. His muscles ached and he had to suppress coughing the whole time; this was so not the right moment to consummate their marriage.

So, after a few more kisses that nearly made him cough, he slowly pulled back to look up at Bill who gave him an apprehensive look.

"Everything alright?" Bill asked a bit concerned.

Tom nodded. "Yeah. I think I need to lie down a bit. I'm not feeling too well yet." He'd been up almost all day, and probably overdone it a bit. Great.

"Oh. Yes, of course." Bill nodded, immediately getting up to make space for him on the bed. "You should get some rest. I'll make us some tea."

While Bill began setting up tea for them, Tom lay back down, closing his stressed eyes and sighing deeply. At least now the prince knew half the truth and was still here – that was great, right?   
If Bill accepted the fact that Tom had married him on purpose, he would most likely be fine with Tom being the king, right? After all, that was a good thing... Wasn't it?

~*~

Tom remained in bed for the rest of the day while Bill told him everything he had done while the minstrel had been at the palace. So much had happened in the short time that Bill didn't even know where to begin.

"So David is still teaching you all about cooking?" Tom asked in surprise.

"Yes!" Bill clapped his hands in excitement. "He said I'm a really quick learner and have a natural talent for cooking!" Over the past few weeks, Bill had been far too tired and worried to really think about what that meant, but now that Tom was back safe and sound, he realized how amazing that really was; it meant they might not have to live in this crappy cottage forever.

"That's wonderful. I'm so proud of you!" Tom beamed happily.

"I know." Bill grinned conceitedly, tossing his hair for good measure. "Maybe it will enable us to keep a horse soon... I swear the walking is killing me... It's the worst part. A horse should be the first thing we get as soon as we have more money," he added thoughtfully. Having a horse was total heaven for him. Especially in winter. "Do we have the grounds for that? Whose meadow is this?"

"King Thrushbeard's," Tom replied drily and Bill rolled his eyes.

"Wonderful. Is there anything that doesn't belong to that dickwad?" he grumbled darkly.

The minstrel chuckled. "Not really – he's the king."

"Ugh." Bill pulled a sour face. Had he married the king, it would all belong to him...

During his entire life at the palace, Bill had never really thought about what it truly meant to rule a country. Sure he knew it meant riches and comfort, but there was so much more that he had never thought of. Not just the responsibility he hadn't ever considered, but also the ability to provoke changes and induce something good into their everyday lives – something he actually really wanted to do all of a sudden because he saw how awful so many things were; how poor and miserable many lives were and how little people like himself cared about it. But what about King Thomas? So far all Bill had heard of him was good...

"When you said Georg got this cottage for you... What did you mean?" Bill asked slowly.

"He organized it for me," Tom replied quietly.

"But it doesn't belong to him, right?" Bill sighed.

"No."

"Let me guess... Even our house belongs to the king?"

The minstrel nodded.

"Why?" Bill asked exasperated. "Does he know we live here?"

"He does." Tom nodded again.

"He knows that I, as in... me, the person he hates, lives here?" Bill asked sourly.

"He doesn't hate you," Tom objected immediately.

"How would you know that?" Bill demanded, throwing his hands up in frustration.

"Georg told me."

"Georg?! Whose friend also hates me for having rejected the king." There was no way Bill was going to believe that.

"Gustav doesn't hate you, he's just weird," Tom insisted, but Bill wasn't sure.

"Well whatever... Why is the king letting me live here?" Bill was still sure that the king was up to some weird revenge.

"Maybe he's a nice guy who heard of your misfortune and wanted to help you because he's not as vindictive and nasty as you think he is." Tom smiled tentatively, but again, Bill wasn't convinced.

"Uh-huh... right. How much rent do we pay for this place? So far no royal collectors have come by..." Bill was sure that people were supposed to pay for houses that didn't belong to them; he had learned something about that during his education, but of course hadn't really paid attention.

"Um... I take care of that," Tom muttered with a shrug.

"Take of that? How? With what?" Bill asked suspiciously.

"I work as well, you know. Sort of..." Tom pointed out defensively, crossing his arms.

Bill raised a skeptical eyebrow. "And playing the lute for a few dimes a day is enough to pay our rent?"

"Yes," Tom insisted firmly, but Bill had the feeling he was lying; were they not paying anything? Was the king letting them live here for free...?

'That guy is up to something, I know it!' Bill grumbled darkly in his head, but said nothing. Tom was obviously of the opinion that the king was a nice guy – maybe he just didn't know what assholes royals could be... Of course – how could the poor peasant know that?  
But Bill knew it, and there was no way he would ever believe the king was doing this out of the goodness of his heart.

To Bill's great dismay, they went to bed that evening just like they had always done, without as much as another kiss. But as much as it bothered him, he was way too awkward to initiate anything (obviously) so once again, nothing happened to take their relationship to the next step. A step that Bill was actually starting to look forward to a lot.


	30. Chapter 30

The next morning, Tom was lazily sweeping the dust from the wood he had just brought in, when he heard horses approaching the cottage. As he opened the door, he saw both his squires jumping off the horses they left at the gate to the small yard.

"Good day, Your Majesty," Gustav said politely with a small bow.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Tom asked surprised.

"We need you to sign a hay and wood donation to a low-life peasant couple," Gustav said passively, handing him the familiar sheet that required his signature so his guards would allow the hay and wood to leave the palace.

Tom chuckled. "Oh yeah. We're really running low on wood. Could you guys add some salt as well? We're almost out and even though Bill can cook rather decently by now, I can't survive without salt."

"Will do," Georg cut off whatever Gustav was about to say.

"And Gustav," Tom said with a glare, "Stop telling Bill that I hate him!"

Gustav gave him an innocent look. "I never said that."

"Then you stop hating him. Bill is a really nice guy," Tom insisted.

"I don't hate him," Gustav said just as innocently as before.

"Whatever, just be nice to him please." Tom gave Georg a nod, trusting Georg to ensure Gustav would follow on that.

"Of course, my king." Georg nodded, taking the papers from him before Gustav could make another comment. "The delivery should be here within two days. We'll include a bag of salt."

"Alright, that's great. Thanks a lot guys, I'll see you soon." Tom waves at his squires as they mounted their horses and rode off, soon disappearing behind the line of trees again.

Hopefully the wood wouldn't take too long because their last batch was almost up and they wouldn't be able to heat a lot longer than another few days with it. And the horse had eaten almost all their hay too. And the salt was up.   
Generally being a peasant sucked. Oh when would they move into the palace?

Tom didn't even know why he was still hesitating; after all, Bill had accepted the fact that he had married him intentionally and that had been ok, so what was holding him back?  
The most logical thing to do would be to tell him the full truth now and take him to the palace so they could stop living in misery. After all, Bill cared enough about him to not have moved away as soon as he got the chance and that had to mean something, right?

And yet, for unknown reasons, he much preferred to stay living in the dirty, cold cottage rather than going back to the palace; did he still have the subconscious fear of losing Bill if he told the truth?   
Well maybe it wasn't all that subconscious, but whatever.

Maybe he should give it another week or so, just to be sure Bill didn't change his mind or anything. Because once he told him who he really was, there was no going back... But how should he do it?

Tom was dramatic and elaborate – he needed a plan. Because just saying 'I'm the king' was too lame.

And so, Tom spent the next few days plotting the perfect way to tell Bill the truth. Or at least he was plotting during the mornings, because the afternoons were spent with random chores that Bill helped him with.   
They had to fix the garden fence, shovel snow, stack in all the wood the Gs had brought them, and they made plans to build a small stable for Fred.

"Though while we're at it," Bill commented thoughtfully, "We might as well make it slightly bigger so Goat can also live in there. And maybe someday a second horse? And a second goat? What about chickens? Natalie has those and she said that if we have space for one, she could give us one next spring."

"Really?" Tom asked surprised; he hadn't even known his kitchen personnel was so nice.

"Yes!" Bill said enthusiastically. "We'd always have eggs! And if we have a second goat, we could have enough milk to make cheese!"

"Do you even know how to make cheese...?" Tom asked doubtfully, though he loved Bill's enthusiasm; the prince was really getting into this peasant life...   
And now that they were working together and getting along so well, Tom was beginning to really enjoy it... What would happen to them once they moved to the palace? Would they still get along so well or would they lose each other?

"I'm learning, actually. It turns out that making cheese is a lot easier than I first thought! You just heat the milk to body temperature, add the rennet, wait 45 minutes, and press it!" Bill beamed happily. "I really want to try it at home sometime."

"O-okay..." Tom had no idea what Bill was talking about, but they would probably never have another Goat... They should be moving to the palace this week...

Bill laughed delighted, pulling Tom close for a tender kiss; something that had become very frequent in the past few days. Tom loved it.   
But as much as he loved it, he tried to keep it as light as possible because he still had one more lie to confess and it made him feel terrible.

Especially because Bill's approaches became more persistent and obvious, especially later in the evening, and Tom was running out of excuses as to not spend the night with him. He was still riding around on not being fully healthy, but that was starting to lose weight because he was perfectly fine by now, and he also didn't want Bill to think he didn't want him... Because he really, really wanted him, but not on an uncomfortable straw bed in a freezing cottage... Tom's idea of their first night together included luxury, warmth, wine, chocolate and whatever other silly things one wants for such an event.

'Tomorrow,' Tom promised himself as he watched Bill prancing around the snowy garden with Goat. Tomorrow he would tell him the truth and they would move to the palace together.

~*~

After his shift was over the next afternoon, Bill exited the kitchen and took a deep breath. The past few days had been going so great: things at the kitchen were working wonderfully, they had enough wood and hay to last the winter, and above all, his relationship with Tom was going great. Aside from the fact that the minstrel was still refusing to be intimate with him despite obviously being healthy already.

Was something wrong? Did Tom not like him...? No, that wasn't possible... Every other sing Tom gave pointed in a very clear direction, so what was wrong? Was Tom just shy?   
Maybe he just needed a bit of reassurance that that was also what Bill wanted...

With a determined nod, Bill walked towards the stables to get Fred so he could go home. Tonight he would assure Tom of his affections and if Tom really was too shy to make the first move, Bill would just do it himself. It's not like Bill was the shy type. Apparently not even about that...

"Hey Fred," Bill greeted the horse and patted him on the neck. Fred was already saddled and waiting for him at the stables where Bill gave the stable boy half a loaf of bread; he couldn't afford to pay for Fred's caretaking, but the stable boy had agreed to look after Fred if Bill always brought him leftovers from the kitchen.

"Thanks, Harry. I'll see you tomorrow!" Bill waved as he walked out of the stable with Fred.

Just as Bill was about to mount, Georg suddenly approached him. "Hey," The squire greeted casually.

"Hey," Bill returned the greeting.

"I have a letter for you." Georg handed him a folded letter that carried the royal seal.

"What is this?" Bill asked hesitantly, taking the letter.

"A letter from the king," Georg whispered so the stable boy wouldn't hear them. "He requested you read it now." And with that, Georg walked away.

Bill looked around awkwardly, receiving a curious stare from Harry. "Bye!" Bill waved casually, before the nosy kid had the chance to ask what was going on.

Tugging the letter into his jacket, Bill mounted the horse and rode down the snowy road that led away from the city towards the forest, where he paused to take out the letter.  
By now he was so nervous he was almost shaking, though it might have also been the cold, even though it was already getting a lot warmer and the sun was shining merrily today.

Carefully, he broke the royal seal, unfolding the letter that revealed a white water lily. Where the hell had the king gotten a lily in winter?! Did he have a winter garden? Bill loved glass winter gardens... He had always wanted one but his parents had never agreed to it...

Lovingly, he ran his fingers over the delicate petals, remembering the king's proposal; it seemed like someone else's life. What did the king suddenly want...? Of course Bill knew he had been up to something, but this was not what he had expected.

Beloved William,

I know we started out on rather harsh terms which I did not understand at the time, but am well aware of now. I did not know you were unwilling to marry, and never intended to offend you with a 'peace offering'. I was genuinely interested in you, not your crown, but I now understand there was no way for you to know this, given we had never met before.

I deeply regret this misunderstanding, but I wish you to know that my proposal still stands. Of course I'm well aware of the unfortunate circumstances that have befallen you, however those circumstances mustn't last forever.

Nothing would bring me greater joy than you by my side as my future king. I'll be waiting for you today by the old oak at the lake, hoping you will accept my hand in marriage.

King Thomas

Was the king serious? Or was this part of his horrible revenge plan?  
Though he really wanted to believe it was a plot to destroy him, everything he had heard of the king so far screamed otherwise. But what was the truth? Did the king really still want him...? Could that actually be, after everything that had happened?

After reading the letter another four times, Bill finally stuffed it back into his pocket and slowly headed towards the lake. He knew which oak the king was talking about: the large one on the Geraneian side. One which Bill had sat under countless times in his life, hating the world and everyone in it.

Even if it was a revenge act designed to destroy the shred of dignity Bill still had left, he didn't care – he probably deserved it anyway – because he had to find out. No matter what the outcome was, it would be easier than now. At least then he would have clarity and wouldn't always be paranoid about what the damned king was up to.

The ride down to the lake didn't take too long, and soon Bill found himself staring across the frozen, sparkling lake, towards the Geraneian side. There was the tree, and underneath the king with his horse. Or at least Bill assumed it was the king, since he was too far away to be recognized, but his clothes and horse certainly looked... regal.

For a few moments, Bill just sat on his horse, watching the king who stood unmoving on the other side of the lake. Despite all the thoughts, doubts and joys running rampant through Bill's mind, the only thing he could really think right now was how nice the man's clothes were. Obviously Bill had always been really into fashion, and lately he hadn't seen any of it, so he tried to concentrate on that while his heart calmed down from the bizarre rush.

Already back in Geraneia, during the proposal, Bill had enjoyed the king's attire; it was simple and tasteful compared to the tacky, sometimes ridiculous clothes most people wore at court.

'Stupid king, he even has to have a good taste in clothes...' Bill thought darkly, only to come to the astounding realization he didn't hate the king at the moment... Alright, so he was allowed to have a good taste in clothes.

~*~

Tom wanted to scream at Bill who just stood on the other side of the lake, unmoving. What was he waiting for? Did he not want to after all? No way...

Finally Bill set his horse back into motion, taking the trail around the lake that would eventually lead him to Tom. Should he meet him? Or just wait here? What exactly was he going to say when he got there? Obviously he would recognize him once he drew close enough – what would happen then?!

Tom was about to have a nervous breakdown while he watched Bill disappearing and reappearing between the rocks and trees at the edge of the lake, slowing coming closer with each agonizingly slow step the horse took.


	31. Chapter 31

As Bill rode closer to the other side, he watched the trees and bushes around him, expecting some sort of crazy ambush, but the king appeared to be alone. Maybe it really wasn't a setup?

Just as he reached the last large rock, the one separating Geraneia and Begonia, he paused.  
Next to the rock, together with his horse, stood squire Gustav. Great.

"Good day, Your Highness," Gustav greeted politely, bowing a bit.

Bill raised an eyebrow. "Hey... What's going on?" He asked a bit hesitantly. Gustav was always a bad sign...

"I'm just here to accompany the king. Who's waiting for you," He added with a movement of his head in the general direction of the king.

"What does he want?" Bill asked stupidly.

"Didn't he state that in his letter?" Now it was Gustav's turn to be surprised.

"Yeah, I'm just not sure I believe that." Now that he was here, Bill wasn't sure he was ready to have his life destroyed for the king's entertainment.

Gustav sighed. "Look... William... I know you're really suspicious of the king and you don't really like him, but he's honest with his intentions. He's a good man – unlike you. Personally I would much rather see the king with someone who deserves him, but if you are the one who makes him happy, then I will support you both." Despite Gustav's rather harsh (and true) words, his tone was polite and gentle, and completely unlike the Gustav Bill had met so far.

That wasn't at all what Bill had expected from the squire and was momentarily bewildered. "I um..." Bill muttered slowly. "I can't do this," He finally concluded. "Please tell His Majesty that I'm deeply sorry about the misunderstanding between us and I'm very honored about the offer. However, I have to decline; I'm already married and no king in the world is going to change that." He couldn't even believe those words just came out of his mouth, ruining the last chance he would ever have to be royalty again.

"Pardon me?" Gustav asked in disbelief. "I'm quite certain the king can undo your current marriage."

"I don't want him to." 'I don't?' Bill asked himself astounded. He really didn't... Sometimes he thought he had only convinced himself he wanted to be with Tom because he didn't see a way out of their marriage, but... It was actually true. He would much rather be with Tom the beggar than Thomas the king. The thought nearly made him vomit.

Gustav just stared at him.

Bill pulled Fred around to go back to Begonian ground. "I'm sorry... I never meant to cause your king any grief. And you're right: he deserves someone a lot better."

"I've been wrong before." Gustav smiled an unusually soft smile that Bill felt compelled to return with a small nod.

"Thank you... Please send my warmest regards and deepest regrets to your king." And with that, he galloped home. Back to the cold, crappy cottage, kitchen job, wood chopping and... Tom. Whom he loved a lot more than he had thought.

Overcome with a delight unlike any he had ever felt before, Bill galloped all the way back to the cottage, anxious to see his husband again. Even though lately he had been 90% sure this was what he wanted, until right now he hadn't been certain – had the king made this proposal two weeks ago, Bill still might have said yes because somewhere deep down, it had been what he secretly wanted... But not anymore.

"Tom?" Bill burst into the cottage, only to find it empty. Where had Tom gone? Was he working again, now that he was feeling better?

'Ugh, nice timing, Tom!' Bill groaned internally.

But of course he could do nothing but wait. Which he did. For quite a while. During which he cleaned up, unsaddled the horse, fed him and Goat, and started preparing dinner.

It was almost dark, and Bill was starting to get worried, by the time Tom finally opened the door, entering with a gust of wind.

"Tom!" Bill almost yelled, delight back with full force as he nearly knocked the minstrel over and started kissing him.

Though Tom returned the kiss, it wasn't as enthusiastic as Bill would have wished. "Bill," Tom laughed, taking a step back. "What's going on?"

"I made dinner!" Bill announced happily before pointing out what he had just noticed a second ago. "You smell nice... Do we have a new soap?"

"Oh um... Yeah. What's going on?" Tom asked again. He was acting weird.

"About what?" Bill asked confused. Why did Tom look so uncertain?

And why wasn't he saying anything but just looking weird?

"What?" Bill repeated with a frown.

"Um..." Tom began reluctantly. "I talked to Georg earlier..."

"Oh," Bill said drily. "What did he say?" So obviously Tom knew. That's why he was acting all weird... Did he think Bill would leave him?! Well, given the choices, the minstrel couldn't be blamed for thinking that.

"He said the king sent you a letter." Obviously Tom was trying to be casual as he began putting his stuff away.

"Yeah, he did." Bill nodded, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"What did he want?" Tom carried on, avoiding his gaze.

Bill frowned even more; he didn't believe the peasant didn't know. Georg had to know, so obviously Tom did too... But whatever – he could also play that game.

"Not much. It was an invitation to the king's birthday in January," Bill said coldly, raising a challenging eyebrow.

"What?!" Tom barked, staring at him.

"What?" Bill asked expectantly.

Tom looked completely indecisive, as if weighing his options, and it angered Bill even more; why couldn't that stupid minstrel just be honest for once?!

"I'm tired, I'm going to bed," Tom finally said, turning away.

"What?!" Bill shrieked angrily. "Seriously? You're just going to lie to me like that?"

"Me?" Tom shot back angrily. "You're lying too!"

"Because you already know what the king wanted!" Bill snapped irritated.

Tom held his hands up. "Okay stop. You're right... I know what the king wanted... So what's going on?" 

Bill huffed, crossing his arms. "Nothing is going on. I turned him down, of course!"

Tom stared at him. "Why?"

"What do you mean why?! I'm married to you, remember?!" What the hell was wrong with Tom all of a sudden?

Tom kept staring at him with that incredulous look. "Yeah but... he's the king," he said stupidly.

Bill gave him a disturbed look. "So?"

"So... so...so..." Tom muttered confused. "So... don't you want to be married to a king?"

Now it was Bill's turn to stare incredulously. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? I thought you'd be happy to find out that you mean more to me than all the kings and crowns in the world! What's wrong with you?" He almost yelled again.

"I-I am!" Tom said quickly. "But... well... I mean... You're supposed to... I mean..."

"Supposed to? I'm supposed to what?" Bill asked confused.

~*~

This was not going according to plan. Of course Tom was more than delighted that Bill chose the beggar over the king – that meant he loved him, obviously, but...

"Tom! What did you mean with I'm supposed to? What am I supposed to do?" Bill frowned more than before.

"Nothing. Nothing..." What could he say? How was he going to explain this? "Look... Bill..." Screw plans – he would just say it. "I'm not really who you think I am..."

"What?" Bill whispered, his face turning slightly pale. "I knew it! I knew you were way too refined and educated to be a peasant!"

"Yes..." Tom nodded sadly.

"So you're actually...?" Bill uttered in disbelief.

"Yeah." Tom nodded again.

"Oh my god!" Bill all but screamed. "And you brought me here so I would be desperate to go back to the palace and marry that stupid king of yours?!"

"Yes," Tom admitted sadly. "What? No, wait..." Obviously Bill hadn't thought the same as him.

"I can't believe this! I know you stupid squires are dead loyal to your king, but this went way too far! I can't believe the king made you do this!" Bill continued ranting.

"No, Bill, it's not-"

"Was it worth it?" Bill yelled angrily. "Was your loyalty worth breaking my heart?"

The desperate misery in Bill's eyes made Tom cringe. "Bill, please let me explain."

"You don't have to," Bill said bitterly. "I know exactly what's going on here." The prince dashed to the door, but before he managed to run out, Tom grabbed his arm.

"You don't know anything!" Tom tried desperately.

"You're even worse than your king!" Bill screamed hysterically, drawing his hand back and slamming his fist square in Tom's face.

Tom stumbled back from the surprisingly strong blow, but by the time he had recovered and ran outside, he just caught a glimpse of Bill riding off into the dark forest with Fred.

"Bill!" He screamed after the prince, but he was already gone.

"Bill..." he mumbled weakly, wiping at the blood dripping from his nose; he felt dizzy and his head hurt like crazy.

Feebly he stalked back into the cottage, shutting the door against the cold, and sitting down on the bed. Well that had been an absolute disaster...

~*~

Filled with anger and betrayal, Bill galloped through the dark, cold forest, unable to see where they were riding due to the tears that refused to stop coming. But it didn't matter anyway – as long as he got away from Tom. And the king. And Begonia...

How had Tom been able to do this to him? Had none of it meant anything? Had the squire just been pretending the entire time? Every smile, every gesture? Everything they had been through was a lie? All the pain Bill had had to endure had been strategically designed to 'tame' him for the king?

It certainly explained why the man had refused to sleep with him...

But how could it all have been fake? All those shy glances and tender smiles Tom had given to him... The mere thought of it all having been a lie made Bill want to die with misery. How could he have been so stupid as to fall for that?

~*~

Tired and miserable, Tom lay down on the uncomfortable bed, waiting for Bill to come back. The prince was dramatic and hysterical, but he would calm down and come back tomorrow.

But he didn't.

When Tom woke up the next morning, Bill still wasn't back. Had he gone to work at the kitchen...? No, surely not... Back to Geraneia?

With a heavy sigh, Tom made his way back to the palace; he still had a headache and his face hurt. Damn, that prince could punch...

"My king!" Georg cried horrified as Tom entered the gates. "What happened? Gustav, fetch the medicine man!"

"I'm fine," Tom waved his hand dismissively. "Bill's gone... I think he went back to Geraneia. I'm going to go looking for him."

"Right now?" Georg asked alarmed. "You look terrible; you need to get some rest."

"No!" Tom shook his head immediately. "I have to get Bill. Get my horse ready!"

"...If he ran away, doesn't that mean he doesn't want to be with you?" Gustav asked quietly.

"No, because he thinks I'm one of the king's squires who was set up to make him suffer so he'd be willing to marry the king!" Tom groaned.

"What?" Both Gs asked in unison.

"I'll explain on the way. Let's go!"

And so they took the long journey to the neighboring kingdom of Geraneia where they were greeted by palace guards who took them inside to see the queens.

"King Thomas!" Queen Elena curtsied as he bowed.

"I'm sorry to arrive without a warning, My Lady. I was actually hoping to speak with Prince William?" Tom really didn't have time for pleasantries right now.

"Oh." The Queen's smile fell. "Haven't you heard? We don't know where he is. He's been missing since last spring."

"What?" Tom asked quietly, feeling a cold chill run down his spine.

"Yes... most unfortunate..." Queen Elena shook her head sadly.

"Most unfortunate?!" Queen Arabella asked angrily, jumping up from her throne. "You are the one who sent him away!"

"Not now, dear, we have guests," Queen Elena said uncomfortably.

"I don't care!" The other queen snapped furiously. "My dear king," she continued, turning to Tom, "Unfortunately my wife forced our beloved and only son to marry some brute, penniless beggar that no one in the world knows, and ever since our son has been missing! We've been searching for him for months, but there has been no sign of him. I beg of you, if you do encounter him, please tell him to come home!" The queen broke out into sobs.

Tom just nodded numbly. If Bill wasn't here, where was he? Had something happened to him? Had he gotten caught in a storm? Had something happened to his horse and he was now lost and freezing somewhere in the woods? Had he ran into bandits? Had he been kidnapped? Raped? Murdered?

The queens said a few more things before he left, but Tom was unable to concentrate because he was slowly growing sick with worry and fear.

"Georg," Tom said quietly as he exited the gates of the palace. "Send out every guard to search for him. Let them start at the cottage and work in every direction. I want every creek and cave turned upside down, every house searched from the cellar to the attic. I don't care how long it takes. Find him."


	32. Chapter 32

But they didn't find him.

For seven long years, every available guard in Begonia as well as Geraneia had searched the lands for the missing prince, but not a single trace had been found of him. From the cold north to the deep south, every corner of the land had been searched through again and again by the king who refused to give up hope, despite that the rest of the world had given the prince up long ago.

Tiredly, Tom looked up from the map as his knights came in. "Well?" He asked.

"Nothing." Georg shook his head, handing him the report from his riders in the west.

Tom nodded, looking back down at the map. There must be some place they had missed. Some small village somewhere where Bill was hiding.

"What about here?" He pointed at a small speck on the map.

"We already searched there, You Majesty," Gustav said quietly.

"Here?" Tom pointed at another spot.

"There too."

Tom was about to point somewhere else, but Georg was faster. "There too, My King. We've searched everywhere. Various times..."

"No!" Tom said angrily. "He has to be somewhere!"

"Tom," Georg said softly, kneeling down next to his chair. "Maybe the reason we can't find him is because he doesn't exist anymore..."

"No!" Tom snarled, angrier than before. "Search it again!"

"We can't," Gustav said quietly, approaching the desk. "You spent your entire kingdoms fortune on this – there's no more resources and no more money left. Your kingdom is completely broke."

"What?" Tom asked annoyed. "What are you talking about?"

The Gs exchanged a worried glance. "Your Majesty, we've told you this already a while ago... We also gave you all the financial reports, but you never looked at them... There's nothing left."

"Then evoke taxes!" Tom growled angrily.

"You already did that, two years ago... Which is why your people are poor and near starving point. They have nothing left to give you," Georg said urgently. "You have to stop this."

"No. I can't... Bill is out there..." Tom mumbled.

"He's not out there, Tom. Bill died a long time ago and you drove your country to ruins," Gustav continued harshly. "If you don't stop now, your people will all starve! You have a responsibility – have you forgotten who you are? You're the king! You're responsible for your country! Pull yourself together!"

Tom stared at him bewildered; as much as he hated it, he knew his friend was right. But... "I don't care. I have to find him," he muttered weakly.

"Come with me. I'm going to show you something," Gustav said, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him out into the hall harshly.

"Ow. What are you doing, Gustav?" Tom grumbled angrily as the knight dragged him towards the main gates. Tom hadn't left the palace halls in nearly 2 years.

Gustav pulled him out into the palace yard and then further into the city that Tom barely recognized. The once lively marketplace was mostly empty, with nothing but a few vendors who barely had anything to sell. The street music that had been almost ever present was gone, and so were all the flowers, flags and other Begonian symbols that had once decorated the entire city.  
The once cheerful population had died down into nothing but a few, tired, dreary figures wandering the streets, and countless beggars littering the dirty streets. Everything smelled like trash, and looked dirty and miserable.

"It's the king!"

"What's he doing here?"

"How dare he show his face here!"

"He's brought us nothing but misery!"

Tom heard the whispers echoing through the streets, giving him chills. How could he have let it get this far?

Horrified, he turned around and ran back to the safety of his palace walls. What had he done?  
Bill was dead, but he'd been unable to face it... Everyone else knew, but he was hell bent on finding someone who didn't exist anymore...

Agitated, he slammed the doors to his bedroom, locking himself in. What was he going to do? How could he make this right again? And how would he go on? How was he supposed to live without Bill?

The sudden realization of everything that was happening, was too much for him, and he broke down on his bed, nearly passing out from desperation and grief.  
Over the last seven years he hadn't allowed himself to grieve over Bill because he had refused to give up hope that the prince may still be alive, but finally he accepted that it was useless. Bill was long dead.

~*~

"Chef Bill!" The sous-chef came running towards him, waving a little paper.

"You know I hate it when you call me like that, right?" Bill laughed.

"Yes, sir. I just got a letter from the King! Princess Ria is getting married!"

Everyone in the kitchen gathered around to listen as Bill took the paper from the sous-chef and read out what the king wanted on the banquet.

It was nothing out of the ordinary – pork, beef, quails, chicken, potatoes, cabbage, various salads, vegetable stews, pastries, cakes, custards, etc. etc. All ordinary meals, but for 400 people.  
Bill had actually never made a banquet this size before, and the thought of cooking for 400 people made him a bit nervous, but he wouldn't let anyone know that, of course.

"Alright people. We've got three weeks to prepare this, so inform all our vegetable suppliers, hunters and farmers. I will make a list with the amounts of everything we need – I'm counting on you!" Bill told his kitchen staff which scrambled away in all directions to get started while Bill retreated into his little office in the back to start writing down what they needed; hopefully he wouldn't be way off with his calculations. Hopefully three weeks would be long enough to plan all this... Why was he only hearing about this now? Who planned a wedding in three weeks? It would have been nice to know this a bit in advance.

Oh well, it would have to do.

~*~

Tom stared emptily out the window, watching the raindrops roll down the glass. In the past few weeks, ever since he accepted that Bill was dead, he had felt dead himself. Everything he did was out of habit, but not desire; nothing seemed to matter anymore.

"Thomas!" His mother's shrill voice interrupted his dreary thoughts.

"What?" He sighed heavily as his mother waltzed into the room, followed by a long line of tailors.

"Come, come, darling, don't make such a face! You're acting as if you'd be married already!" She laughed, pulling him to his feet. "Only two more weeks before you have to leave to Florentina, and everything must be perfect!"

Tom sighed again, nodding passively as people started measuring around on him and showing him all sorts of fabrics and colors.

"I don't care. Whatever is fine," Tom shrugged at the man holding the fabric samples for him.

"Thomas!" His mother berated. "Let me take a look at that." She turned towards the man, pulling him away from Tom. "I'm afraid my son has no sense of style at all, so I better take care of that!" She laughed cheerfully, looking over whatever the man showed her while Tom rolled his eyes.  
On the other hand, he was glad she was so much into this, because he really wasn't. His mother had been planning his wedding since the day she found out she was pregnant.

It took nearly an hour until his mother was finally satisfied with the tailors and told them to leave, at which point Tom crawled back into the darkest corner of his room where he could keep staring at the rain outside.

Of course his peace didn't last long because soon another knock interrupted his moping.

"My king?" Georg asked quietly as he came in.

"What?" Tom asked tiredly.

"Your mother asked me to speak with you..." Georg continued just as quietly while he sat down on the broad windowsill next to Tom.

"About what?"

The knight shrugged. "I think she's under the impression this marriage isn't really what you want..."

Tom almost laughed. "Really? She came to that conclusion just now, did she?"

Georg chuckled. "You know you don't have to go through with this."

"Of course I do, because thanks to me my country is broke and the only way to keep them all from starving is to marry Princess Ria. And given the only person I'll ever love is dead, it doesn't matter anyway," Tom ground out bitterly.

Georg cleared his throat awkwardly. "Yeah... Well... Princess Ria seemed very nice. Maybe you will get along great."

Tom gave him a look. "She's 15 – I'm 31 – I really don't think we have a lot in common."

Georg shrugged. "Look at your parents – your mom was 14 when she married your dad."

"Is that supposed to be encouraging?" Tom asked disturbed.

"They don't get along so bad..." Georg said awkwardly.

"Are you kidding? My dad is 25 years older than her... They have nothing in common and they hate each other. And I'm pretty sure she's shagging her pageboy..."

"Tom!" Georg gasped.

"What?" Tom asked disgruntled.

"I don't want to know these things!" Georg said outraged. "Anyway..." he continued quickly, "I'm just trying to make sure this is actually what you want."

"I want it as much as I'm still capable of wanting something," Tom assured him; that actually meant nothing because he couldn't care less about anything at all. He was just trying to make it up to his people.

"Alright then." Georg nodded, obviously not convinced but with nothing left to say.

~*~

Stressed, Bill looked over his notes; there was no way he could get all this done in such a short time. Time was flying by so fast he barely noticed the weeks melting away while he tried to keep up with the large food order. Their cellars were packed to the ceiling and everyone was working on double shifts to prepare all the food. And that was just in the kitchen; the rest of the palace didn't have it any better with all the other arrangement at such short notice, but Bill had no time to pay attention to them.

"Why has mister Hall not delivered yet?" Bill asked stressed out, noticing that the farmers order had not arrived yet, even though they had less than a week before the guests started arriving.

"Oh, his donkey fractured its ankle and he can't make it to town," Sebastian, his sous-chef, informed him.

"Are you kidding me?" Bill asked in disbelief. "Send a carriage over there, we need those vegetables. Today."

"Right away," Sebastian scrambled out of the kitchen just as a young pageboy from the king came in.

"Chef Bill?" He asked carefully.

"What?" Bill groaned, running a hand through his hair; what did the king want now?!

"His Majesty wishes to see you."

Wonderful. Just what he needed right now; complaints from the king. "Thanks." Bill followed the messenger up into the palace where countless people were busy with decorations and arrangements.

"Your Majesty." Bill bowed before the king and his fidgeting daughter.

"Ah, master Bill!" The king motioned for him to come closer. "It has recently come to my ears that you were in training in Begonia, is that right?"

Bill got a little nervous; he didn't like it when people knew these things about him. "Yes, Your Majesty," he said nonetheless; it's not like he could just lie to the king if he already knew anyway. Damn Sebastian and his big mouth.

"Excellent! I suppose you cooked for King Thomas there?" The king continued, making Bill swallow drily.

Clearing his throat, Bill nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty." What the hell was going on here?!

"My little pumpkin told me that the king's favorite dish is roasted pheasant with... something or other. Do you know how to prepare that?" The king continued while his daughter beamed happily.

Bill almost twitched. Of course he knew what dish the king was talking about and how to prepare it, even though he hadn't made it in years. "Yes, it's with a mushroom sauce." Why were they asking about this?

"Excellent!" The king said again. "My little darling would like you to prepare that for King Thomas so he'll feel right at home here!"

"K-king Thomas?" Bill stuttered. "He's coming to the wedding?" Bill felt like throwing up; he knew the king had been looking for him for countless years... He had moved here, to the end of the world, in hopes of hiding from the king, and now he was coming over to a bloody wedding?!

The king laughed loudly and his daughter giggled. "Why of course! Didn't you know your former king is marrying my little coochi woochi." The king pinched his daughter's cheek.

It took all of Bill's will not to scream. Or vomit. Or run away. Or die. Or something.

"Oh." Was all he managed.

"Excellent that you can prepare that! I shall let you get back to your preparations then, I'm sure you have a lot to do!" The king dismissed him.

Bill just nodded numbly, walking away without as much as a bow; he forgot about that. Luckily the king seemed busy with his frantic daughter.

King Thomas was marrying Princess Ria? But... 'She's so young,' Bill thought stupidly. What had happened to the king...? Last Bill had known of the king, he had been refusing marriage because he wanted to marry for love... Obviously that wasn't it with Ria, so why was he marrying her?

The last time he had heard anything about the king of Begonia had been nearly three years ago; back then he and Bill's mothers had still been searching for him, but obviously they had given up by now.  
Initially Bill had felt guilty for just leaving like that, but it was their own fault: his mothers for having married him off to a stranger, and the king's for having one of his squires break Bill's heart... None of them deserved him – he was better off on his own.  
In the past few years here in Florentina, Bill had built up a good existence, working as kitchen chef in the palace, where he had also lived for the first few years in the servant quarters, but once he had been able to afford it, he had moved out into his own little house at the edge of the city, just a 15-minute ride from the palace. He even had his own vegetable garden... No goat though.

Absently, Bill twisted the ring on his finger as he walked back to the kitchen. Even though the marriage with Tom had been fake, Bill hadn't ever taken the ring off, remaining true to the squire who had never cared about him, because even though it may have all been a lie for Tom, Bill's feelings were true and he still loved the man despite the pain he had suffered due to him.  
Everyone who now knew Bill, believed him to be widowed, because Bill wasn't ready to move on yet. His heart still belonged to the man who had broken it, and until he got over that (in case that would ever be so), he would keep the ring in place.

Unable to get any more work done today, Bill left Sebastian in charge, with the excuse that he needed to get some other stuff done. He just couldn't concentrate on arranging a marriage for the person he hated more than any other on the planet.

"Leaving already, master Bill?" the stable boy asked surprised as he finished saddling Bill's horse. On normal days, Bill never left before 10pm – now it was barely 4 o'clock.

"Yeah, Tony. I got some stuff I need to take care of today," Bill lied cheerfully, hoping Tony wouldn't see past his pathetic charade.

"I shall see you tomorrow then, sir." Tony waved as Bill rode off, wanting nothing more than to get away from everyone.

How was he supposed to survive the next week?


	33. Chapter 33

Tom took a deep breath as he saw the palace gates approaching. This was it then…

“Oh, doesn’t this place just look lovely!” His mother beamed next to him, rousing the urge in Tom to roll his eyes, but he pulled himself together quickly.

“Wonderful!” he said in the most enthusiastic tone he could muster in his nauseated state.

Their carriage came to a halt in front of the palace’s entrance, where knight Georg opened the door, holding his hand out for Tom’s mother to exit first.

The steps of the palace were lined left and right with some the royal staff that had shown up to greet them, all bowing as Tom stepped out of carriage to make his way up towards King Rudolph and his daughter Ria. Tom’s future wife…

“Welcome!” King Rudolph greeted them cheerfully while Tom bowed before his betrothed, kissing her gloved hand.

“We’re most delighted to be here!” Francesca smiled brightly, waving her fan around and ushering Tom forward. He was painfully aware how happy his mother was that he was finally getting married – after all she had no idea that Tom had been, in fact, already married for nearly 8 years – and had the strong urge to snap at her in irritation, but refrained from any comment.

As he followed the chattering party into the decorated halls of the palace, he glanced back to make sure the Gs were still with him, because they were the only thing giving him courage right now. Both knights smiled and nodded reassuringly at him, as he gave a feeble nod back.

The king said something about them getting settled in before dinner, and a few servants showed Tom his quarters, where he would be staying during his stay. The servant room right next to his chambers had been reserved for Georg and Gustav, and as soon as everyone had gone, Tom immediately snuck into their room.

“I’m going to kill myself,” he said calmly as he entered, earning a concerned look from his knights.

“Now, now, my king. Ria seems like a very nice person, and the dowry she brings is more than enough to get your kingdom back on its feet. Marry her and all your troubles will be over,” Georg smiled comfortingly.

“Aside, of course, from all the trouble that will come with a marriage to such a young, immature girl. It’ll be prince William all over again. Should we arrange the cottage for your honeymoon?” Gustav asked passively.

“Shut it, G,” Georg snapped, shoving him a bit while Tom whined indignantly, dropping down on one of the small servant beds to bury his head in a pillow and wail loudly.

“I’m sure it won’t be that bad,” Georg continued, patting Tom’s shoulder. “Besides, it’s not like you have to have much to do with her – as soon as she bears an heir to your kingdom, you can both go your separate ways, just like your parents did!”

“Though of course first you must bed her, but you can think about Bill during that time.”

“Gustav!” Georg growled angrily.

“Kill me now,” groaned Tom miserably; he had been trying to avoid thinking about that part of his marriage. “I’m going out for a quick walk before dinner. I need some air.”

“We’ll go with you,” Georg agreed immediately.

“You don’t have to…” Tom really just wanted to be alone right now.

“We do. We’re in a foreign kingdom. You could get lost,” Georg reasoned.

“Or try to commit suicide.” Gustav nodded knowingly while Tom rolled his eyes; he wasn’t actually suicidal… Or was he…? No… Of course not… He had a duty towards his people… Maybe afterwards…

 

And so they strolled aimlessly through the palace grounds, Tom completely ignoring the fact that he was supposed to freshen up a bit before dinner that was in less than an hour, but he just couldn’t get himself to go back into the palace because the building seemed to suffocate him.

“We’ve been out here for over half an hour already, my king. Perhaps we should consider going back inside?” Georg tried gently as they walked passed the stables. Tom had the silly urge to jump on the closest horse and ride all the way back to Begonia.

“Yeah, I guess…” Tom sighed, looking longingly at the horses in their stalls. However just as he was about to turn around to return to the palace, he paused dead in his tracks. “Fred?!” He asked in disbelief.

“What?” Georg and Gustav asked confused, looking around. “Your father? Where?”

“What?” Tom asked before laughing. “No, not my father… Fred our horse!” He pointed at the stall they were standing in front of.

The Gs exchanged a worried glance. “What are you talking about?” Georg asked carefully.

“The horse Bill and I had while I was sick!” Excited, Tom ran up to the stall. “Fred!” He waved at the horse that paid no attention to him while it munched on its grass.

“Tom,” Georg said quietly, pulling him away from the stall. “That’s a brown horse… There are around 50 million others exactly like it in the world. That’s not Fred.”

“But it looks just like him,” Tom insisted firmly.

“Your Majesty…” Gustav cut in. “Georg’s right. That could be any horse. You haven’t seen Fred in over 7 years – he’s probably dead already. Like Bill. Now let’s go because you’re almost late for dinner.”

Tom stared at him. He wanted to be angry about the Bill comment, but Gustav was probably right… He was just going delusional because of wedding jitters.

With another heavy sigh, he followed his knights back to his quarters to get washed and dressed in a hurry before joining his impatiently waiting mother to attend dinner.

Even though he was feeling slightly sick and had to force down every spoonful of soup, he had to admit that the food was excellent. For some odd reason it reminded him of Begonia and made him feel a bit better.  
But not good enough to make him join the random conversation at which he was just laughing and nodding the way everyone did, without even knowing what was being said.

“Isn’t it, Thomas?” His mother asked brightly, but Tom had no idea what she had been saying.

“Absolutely.” Oh god, what had he just agreed to? What had they been talking about?

“I knew it!” Princess Ria said happily, blushing slightly at him. “That’s why I asked our chef to prepare it specifically for you,” she continued with a shy smile. Tom had no idea what she was talking about.

“Why isn’t she just a doll!” Francesca gushed over the blushing princess; Tom just smiled and nodded again, watching as the servants served the third coarse.

“Oh,” he said stupidly as the servant lifted the dome off his plate. Had the princess really remembered what he liked to eat? Tom was quite touched; he hadn’t given her credit for that.

“Thank you,” he said softly, smiling discreetly at her while the rest of the table chattered away again. The young princess beamed up at him with adoring eyes. Maybe their marriage wasn’t doomed to be as awful as his parents? Maybe over time (a very long time) they could become friends at least?

“Is it good?” Princess Ria asked hopefully.

“It’s excellent. It tastes just like in Begonia…How did you get this recipe?” Tom asked stunned – he had always assumed recipes were each royal chef’s secret.

Ria smiled brightly. “Our kitchen chef was an apprentice in your palace!”

Tom nearly spit his pheasant out. “What?”

“Yes, he came to us around 5 years ago after having learned in your kitchen! He had already prepared this meal for you back in Begonia!” She said happily, but then frowned a bit. “Is everything alright?”

Tom’s stomach twisted painfully as he put two and two together. That couldn’t be… The horse… The food… Five years. It had to be him… He had been here the entire time. Tom wanted to throw up.

“M-my king? Are you not feeling well?” Ria whispered worried.

“No. Nothing. I’m fine,” Tom assured her quickly, trying to smile as best as he could despite the bile rising in his throat.

Their quiet whispering was interrupted by King Rudolph telling them how happy he was that they were there, lamenting that Tom’s father couldn’t be here due to illness, and how he was looking forward to the wedding tomorrow.   
Ria agreed happily, though Tom caught her gaze and saw the worry in her eyes. Damn… She knew something was wrong.

‘ _Who cares. She’s a 15-year-old girl – she’ll forget all about it in no time_ ,’ Tom assured himself.

As hard as it had been to eat before, it was far worse now and Tom battled with each bite that threatened to come up a minute after it had gone down. He wanted to run down to the kitchen to see, because despite being so sure, he wasn’t sure it wasn’t just wishful thinking making him sure. Maybe it was some other trainee – the Begonian kitchen had probably had hundreds of those… But what about Fred?   
Fred was just a brown horse… that could have been any other…

 

It was almost an hour later when Tom finally gathered his courage and got up, saying he was exhausted from the late journey and wanted to get retreat to his chambers.

Shakily he walked out of the dining hall, hoping he wasn’t being totally impolite, but unable to take it any longer. He had to know.

“King Thomas?”

Tom spun around at the uncertain voice.

“Is everything alright?” Princess Ria asked concern, catching up with him in the hall.

“Oh. Yes. I’m just tired that’s all,” Tom assured her with his best smile.

The princess nodded, though she didn’t seem to believe him. “If there is anything you might require, please do let me know?”

Tom nodded numbly. The only thing he required right now was a moment to run down to the kitchen. “Thank you. Goodnight, Your Highness.” He bowed politely.

“Goodnight.” She smiled feebly with a small curtsy before Tom hurried away, in search of the kitchen.

It wasn’t hard to find, and after asking two guards for directions, Tom found himself in front of the large, open doors of the busy kitchen. His heart was beating so fiercely he thought it would break his ribs any moment; this was it. Was Bill really here?

Though he had been waiting to come here for over an hour, he found himself hesitating; what if it wasn’t him? What if Bill was truly dead…? Did he even want to know?

“Those two platters with custard and that one with the cake.” It was unmistakably Bill. Tom nearly screamed at the distinguishable voice.

He was about to burst into the kitchen but then quickly changed his mind; making a scene in the royal kitchen was probably a very bad idea.

A second later two servants came out carrying the trays Bill had ordered to be taken up, nearly running into Tom who was standing in the middle of the narrow hall.

“Hey wait,” Tom whispered at the young man who gave him a slightly confused look, obviously having no clue who he was.

~*~

Bill took a deep breath and nodded in satisfaction. The evening had gone by so far without any catastrophe. Just a few more desserts and it was over. Thank god, because it was almost midnight and he couldn’t wait to get the hell out of here; he was still upset about the whole wedding issue and couldn’t stop thinking about Tom.

“Excuse me, sir?” One of the waiters approached him. “There’s a man looking for you. He said he’d like you to meet him out in the yard, if you can spare a moment?”

Bill raised an eyebrow. “What man?”

“I don’t know, sir. I believe he’s here with the Begonian King?” The young man shrugged.

Bill’s stomach twisted. Could it be that Tom had come…? No way… Sure he’d been fantasizing about it all day – after all he was one of the king’s squires, or maybe even knights meanwhile – but there was no way for Tom to know that Bill was here, right?

“Thank you,” Bill said curtly. “Sebastian!” He called for his sous chef. “I’m leaving you in charge for a bit – I need to attend to something.”

“Right now?!” Sebastian asked a bit freaked out.

“Dinner is almost over – just send out the last few desserts and we’re good,” Bill assured him with a confident smile before walking away, unable to stand still a second longer.

He hurried across the kitchen towards the door that led out into the yard; luckily there was no one around here since everyone was busy serving the dining hall, so he shut the door behind him, just to make sure no one saw him from inside the kitchen.

The dark yard was only light by the dim fire from the lamp posts and the half-moon that had begun to fade already. “Hello?” Bill asked nervously into the empty yard.

 


	34. Chapter 34

From the shadows of the trees, Tom watched Bill standing in the dim light. It was actually him. The person he’d been searching for for so long. Seven years had gone by, during which he had dreamt of this very moment, and now it was finally here.

“Bill,” he whispered hoarsely, barely able to find his voice.

~*~

Bill spun around at the quiet whisper, spotting a dark silhouette under a few trees. He knew who that was… He didn’t need to see his face to recognize him. “Tom,” he whispered just as quietly, nearly breaking down. There were so many things he wanted to ask, so many insults he wanted to throw at him, but at this very moment he couldn’t utter a single word.

So for a minute or two they just stood there in silence, watching each other from across the path to the kitchen. The short distance of a few feet seemed like an ocean away and impossible to cross for Bill who remained rooted to the spot, fearing even the slightest of movements would cause the moment to disappear.

“How’ve you been?” Tom finally asked with an unsteady voice.

“Good. And you?” Bill asked back quietly.

“Terrible. I’ve missed you so much it nearly drove me mad with grief. I thought you were dead,” Tom brought out shakily.

Even though Bill was desperately trying to be angry about everything the man had done to him, he found himself unable to upon hearing those words that reflected his own feelings perfectly. It was all the incentive he needed to run the few feet between them and wrap his arms around the person he had missed so dearly for so long.

~*~

Tom felt so weak his knees nearly buckled under the weight of the prince around his neck, and it took all his self-restraint to not start crying pathetically. He had missed Bill so much, there were no words to describe how he felt right now.

“What are you doing here? Where have you been? Why did you do this to me? How could you? If you cared about me, why did you let me go?” Bill asked desperately, holding Tom so tight he could barely breathe.

“I’m sorry,” Tom whispered, not knowing what else to say because he couldn’t explain this in just a few words.

“Run away with me,” Bill suddenly said, pulling back to look at him.

“…What?” Tom asked confused.

“I know you swore your loyalty to your king, but to hell with that – this is all his fault anyway. He’s getting married to Princess Ria tomorrow anyway. Desert him and come with me… We can be together – away from kings and kingdoms; just the two of us!” Bill pleaded, looking at him with those beautiful, hope filled eyes.

“I can’t,” Tom brought out.

“Yes you can. I did it too. King Thomas has enough other squires to look after him,” Bill insisted, but Tom shook his head.

“No, Bill. I am King Thomas.”

~*~

Bill stared at his husband. Was he joking?   
Carefully he took a step back, trying to evaluate the situation. Was Tom insane?  
Or was it the truth…? Had he seriously married the king all those years ago?

“You’re King Thomas…” He said stupidly, unable to wrap his mind around it.

“Or Thrushbeard – whatever you want.” Tom smiled weakly.

Bill gave a choked laugh. “You’re King Thomas,” he repeated.

“I am.” The man nodded.

“I don’t understand,” Bill said flatly. “Why? What were you trying to do?” This time he wouldn’t run away, he wouldn’t jump to conclusions and assumptions; he would stay here and listen to whatever this man had to say.

Tom, or Thomas, or whatever, took a deep breath. “Ever since I was 18, my parents have been trying to marry me off to a suitable spouse, but I always refused. Also when they told me your mothers were trying to get you wed. I had no intention to go to that audience because I didn’t want to marry a total stranger who meant nothing to me. But the day before, I rode down to the lake where I saw you bathing and fell completely in love with you… So I went to Geraneia the following day, only to be humiliated by you so much that it’s still following me today… Anyway… I was devastated by your cruelty, but despite that, still madly in love with you. So I came up with the completely retarded idea to make your life miserable, so you would know what other people have to go through and would be a little less arrogant… I know it was totally dumb to do, but I… I thought I could change you. I thought you could be a lot better than the person you were – I wanted you to be the person I wanted you to be… Does that make sense?” Tom babbled desperately, giving him a hopeful look.

Bill nodded numbly. “You went to live in a cottage because of me?” What kind of a king did something like that…?

“Yes… And I would gladly do it again if I could be with you. I’m so sorry I did all that. I never wanted to hurt you – I never wanted things to get this out of hand,” Tom continued miserably.

“You would give your crown up for me?” Bill asked skeptically.

Tom opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again a moment later, apparently changing his mind. “I can’t.”

Bill nodded. “I guess not. But forcing me to give up mine is ok, right?” He asked bitterly.

“No!” Tom interrupted him, grabbing his arms so he wouldn’t be able to walk away. “I drove my kingdom to ruins in an attempt to find you. My people are starving. I have to fix this. If I run away now, my kingdom will fall.”

“What?” Bill asked in disbelief. Begonia had been one of the richest, biggest kingdoms in all of the land.

“That’s why I have to marry Princess Ria tomorrow,” Tom whispered bitterly.

Bill felt a chill running up his spine; he had completely forgotten about that. His first reaction was to scream ‘No’, but he knew it was useless; Tom couldn’t abandon his people like that. He was a king and his life belonged to his people, not to himself.

“Yeah. You do,” Bill mumbled numbly, taking a step back to free himself from the man’s touch. “I wish you all the happiness in the world,” he whispered as he turned to walk away.

“Bill.” Tom grabbed his hand, pulling him back into a last, bruising kiss that brought bitter tears to Bill’s eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” the king apologized one last time before Bill ran out of the yard, towards the stables to go home.

~*~

Again, Tom watched the love of his life leaving him behind, but this time he didn’t try to stop him. Deep down he had hoped Bill would still be the irrational, selfish teenager he had been when they met and persuade him to run away together, but obviously Tom’s plan to make a better person out of the spoiled brat had worked, and Bill now placed someone else’s needs before his own.

Dejectedly, Tom slouched back to his chambers, where he locked himself in, crawled into bed without bothering to remove his clothes or shoes, and cried himself to sleep.

 

 

~*~

Exhausted, Bill sagged into his bed, quietly sobbing into his pillows. How had this all happened? How could it all be so wrong? How could it end like this? Why hadn’t he listened to Tom seven years ago? Why hadn’t he turned around when he heard the man screaming his name into the night?

But of course none of that mattered anymore because Tom was marrying Princess Ria tomorrow.

A day that Bill really wanted to spend at home, but knew he couldn’t because he had to arrange a royal banquet for 400 people.

 

With a heavy heart, Bill made his way to the palace the following morning, so tired he barely managed to hold himself on his horse. This place was the last one he wanted to be at, but unless he wanted to lose his job and existence, he had to get through today without a total breakdown.

“Is everything alright, chef Bill?” Sebastian asked concerned, shortly after Bill had arrived in the already busy kitchen.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve just been working a lot lately,” Bill assured him, giving him his best smile. How would he get through today? Today at 11, in exactly 4 hours and 28 minutes, the love of his life would be marrying someone else, and there was nothing and no one in the world who would prevent it.

 

 

~*~

Tom stared emptily at his dull reflection in the mirror, while his garments were adjusted by various servants. In less than an hour he would be married.

“Oh, you look so lovely, my darling!” Queen Francesca sniffed emotionally, ushering the servants out once they were done with the final touches to his tunic and elaborate robes that made him feel somewhat silly.

“Thomas, dearest, what is the matter? Why do you look so sullen? You should consider yourself lucky – Princess Ria is a true gem!” She continued worried, standing in front of him and gazing up at him.

Tom nodded numbly. “She is.”

“Then what’s the matter?”

For the first time, Tom had the impression that she actually wanted to know and bothered to listen because she stood in silence for a while, waiting for a reply that Tom couldn’t give her.

Finally she sighed with a sad smile. “I know she isn’t whom you truly wanted to marry. I know your heart still belongs to that prince, but… She’s a smart choice. She’ll make a good queen in time,” she said softly, and for the first time in his life Tom felt remotely understood by his mother; why hadn’t they ever been able to talk like this before?

“I married Bill in secret,” Tom mumbled before he could stop himself. Their marriage had been kept secret from the entire world to avoid a scandal – or worse, a war – but he really wanted to say it.

“What?” Francesca asked confused.

“You know the beggar prince William was forced to marry? It was me,” he finally admitted.

The queen gasped. “What?!” She asked again.

“I’m sorry,” Tom mumbled crestfallen, slouching over to the sofa and slumping down.

“Oh, my darling… Why didn’t you tell me? What happened?” She asked softly, sitting down next to him and hugging him. Tom had expected her to be furious, but maybe he had misjudged his mother a bit.

And so, Tom poured his broken heart out to her. To his great surprise, she was understanding and comforting, without uttering a single harsh word about all the mistakes he had made.

“What am I going to do?” Tom muttered desperately once he was done with his pathetic tale.

Francesca sighed heavily. “I wish I could tell you to forget all this and run away with Bill, but you know just as well as I do that you would let your kingdom parish if you did. Life isn’t a fairytale – childhood doesn’t prevail forever, and only young broken hearts hide away in Neverland.”

Tom nodded slowly. He couldn’t afford to follow his own dreams; his life belonged to the crown, not himself.

“We should go down to the church. The ceremony starts shortly,” he said quietly, getting up with a deep breath.

His mother also stood up, wrapping her arms around him in a tight embrace before exiting the room without another word. Tom followed her out into the hall, where his knights were already waiting; he hadn’t told them about Bill.

“Your Majesty.” They both bowed before Tom and Francesca, before following them down to the beautifully decorated church where Princess Ria and King Rudolph were already waiting for them.

The princess wore a light blue dress, and looked like a dream. She may well have been the most beautiful girl Tom had ever laid eyes on, but her beauty paled in comparison to Bill’s anyway.

A few compliments and pleasantries were introduced before the trumpets announced the king and his wife’s entrance, followed by queen Francesca, maids of honor, knights, etc. until only Tom and Ria were left, waiting for their turn to walk together to the altar.

“Is everything alright, My King?” Ria whispered right before the wedding march began to play, announcing their entrance.

Tom swallowed to keep from vomiting, and nodded, unable to say anything. The princess took his arm gently and guided him through the doors that opened into the large hall of the church that was filled with countless people Tom had never seen before. He immediately tried to find Bill’s face among them, but was unable to see him anywhere; maybe he wasn’t here.

The aisle towards the altar seemed eternally long, and each step was heavier than the last; his feet felt as if they were made of lead, but eventually they reached anyway, and the bishop began to speak.

“Blessings and merry meet. Gentle lords and ladies, we art gathered here today to join fair Princess Ria Isabella Charlotte Sommerfeld II and noble King Thomas Trümper IV in marriage.” The man then turned to Tom first. “King Thomas, wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others keep thee only unto her as long as you both shall live?”

Tom looked into Ria’s slightly uncertain eyes and smiled reassuringly; he would not let his people down.

“In the name of God, I, Thomas Trümper, take you, Ria Sommerfeld, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death.” Though the words were spoken confidently, Tom felt like a bystander who was merely observing someone else’s life falling to ruins with those words.

 


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone ^^ 
> 
> Welcome to the last chapter of King T!   
> Thank you so much for reading this story, I hope you had at least half as much fun reading this as I had writing it x3 Also thank you for all the wonderful comments that made me very happy and inspired me to keep writing <33 and to everyone who voted, of course ^^   
> Maybe I'll see you on another story somewhere :3 and I hope you enjoy the last chapter!
> 
> Cheers,  
> Jason

The bishop then turned to Princess Ria. “Princess Ria, wilt thou have this man to be thy wedded husband to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others keep thee only unto him as long as you both shall live?”

Ria looked back at Tom after having been looking at the bishop. Tom nodded almost unnoticeably as she smiled softly. “I will not.”

A loud gasp came from both queen’s as well as countless other guests.

“What?!” King Rudolph bellowed angrily, but Ria had already sprinted down the aisle and was out the door before the king was done complaining.

“Wait! Princess Ria!” Tom yelled, running after her while their parents began fighting and guests voiced their outrage.

“Princess Ria!” Tom ran after her across the yard, finally catching up with her; luckily she couldn’t really run in her elaborate gown. “What happened?” He asked confused, pulling her to a stop.

The young princess looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. “That was Prince William, wasn’t it?” She suddenly asked, startling Tom completely.

“What?” He asked confused.

“I saw you in the garden with our kitchen chef, Bill, last night,” she said quietly.

Tom swallowed drily. “I don’t think right now is a good moment to discuss this.”

“I think right now is the only moment to discuss it,” she argued; Tom didn’t ever want to discuss this, actually. “I know you’ve been searching for the missing prince for seven years. Bill claimed to be from Begonia and he started working here five years ago. I didn’t miss the shocked expression last night when I told you who had prepared your meal. That’s him isn’t it?” She asked bitterly.

Tom thought he would pass out from stress. “Yes,” he finally managed to bring out. “But I’ve made a promise to you that I don’t intend to break. There will never be anything between me and Prince William again,” he promised weakly, nearly breaking down at the words.

“But,” she began but Tom interrupted her.

“That meant nothing,” he lied desperately, not wanting to hurt her.

Ria smiled sadly, sniffling a bit. “I know it did. My whole life I’ve been wishing for someone to look at me the way you looked at him. My whole life I’ve been waiting for my fairytale king who would love and cherish me above all others; whose heart would only be mine. And when I met you, I so dearly wished it were you, but your heart will never belong to me. I’m grateful beyond words that you did not abandon me at the altar when you found him, however I know that we would never make each other happy and you would look back on a life of regret if you did not marry Prince William instead.”

Tom stared at her in bewilderment; this was not the sort of reaction he had been expecting from the young girl. How was he supposed to explain this to her?

“That’s not true. I’m ready to marry you,” he tried desperately.

“Why would you marry me instead of the person you truly wish to be with? I promise I will take it all on me – you will not have to justify anything in front of anyone,” she assured him with a soft, knowing smile.

Tom swallowed heavily. “No. I want to marry you,” he insisted.

Ria frowned. “Why?”

Tom really wanted to lie, but felt she deserved the truth. There was so much more to her than he had given her credit for – she deserved better than to be lied to.

“I have to,” he whispered apologetically. “Your marriage dowry is the only thing that can save my kingdom. Begonia is completely bankrupt because I wasted our entire fortune trying to find Bill.” Well that was probably not the best way to get someone to marry him…

Ria stared at him, apparently torn between her emotions. After an intense moment in which Tom prayed for the fate of his people, she slowly raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“So… you need to marry to save your kingdom… That’s it?” She asked stunned.

“Yes…” Was she going to slap him? Tell her father? Kill him? Marry him?

“So why don’t you marry Bill? Isn’t he the only heir to his kingdom? And his mothers have been searching high and low for him? If he goes back home, he will regain his crown and the marriage to him would be far more beneficial to you because you’re neighboring kingdoms. Wouldn’t it?” She asked with a shrug.

Tom stared at her in disbelief. “What?” he asked stupidly.

Ria smiled a bit. “Take him home and save both your kingdoms. I’ll clean this mess with my parents and all that up,” she assured him with a gentle nod.

Tom was still completely caught up in what she had said. How the hell had he not thought of this?! He had spent the entire night trying to come up with something but this had never even occurred to him… Was he simply too close to have seen it?

“You’re brilliant. You are going to make an amazing queen someday,” he said stunned, pulling her into a tight hug. He knew that was rather inappropriate, but hoped no one seen it.

The princess sniffed a bit, wiping away the last remains of her tears with her tissue, but she was smiling happily. “I wish you both all the happiness and luck in the world,” she said softly.

Tom nodded, not knowing how to thank her. “If there is ever anything your kingdom may need, you can always count on us as an ally.”

“Thank you,” she smiled with a nod. “Now go before my father gets out here and kills you!” She added with a laugh.

Tom laughed shakily, taking her hand and kissing it. “Thank you so much, your highness.”

“Good luck!” She waved after him as he hurried away from the chapel out of which countless guests were coming out, all ranting loudly.

 

~*~

Heartbroken, Bill stared at the old kitchen clock through the door of his small office. Everyone in the kitchen was ready, and waiting for lunch to be served. It was 11:09. Tom had gotten married 9 minutes ago…

Bill sniffed softly, wiping at his eyes before someone noticed the tears; he couldn’t afford to grieve over this right now because he had a job he needed to keep. All tears would have to wait until after the celebrations…

But no matter how hard he tried to tell himself that his pain had to wait, it couldn’t and he quietly snuck out of the kitchen, claiming he needed to use the toilet before the entire commotion began. How would he get through today?

Barely able to see where he was going, he staggered around the back of the kitchen, leaning against the wall by the trash containers for a few moments before sagging down to the floor and sobbing uncontrollably.   
The only thing that had kept him sane over the past few years, was the hatred he had felt for the betrayal from the king and Tom, but now that he knew Tom had truly loved him and hadn’t intentionally hurt him out of spite, he was dying of remorse. This time he couldn’t even blame Tom for breaking his heart – he had done that all on his own.

The sudden sound of someone standing next to him pulled him out of his pity and he immediately silenced his sobbing, wiping at his eyes and nose. “I’ll be right there,” he mumbled in the steadiest voice he managed before looking up and gasping quietly as the king suddenly stood in front of him, dressed in the elaborate wedding tunic.

“Tom! I-I mean… King Th-… Wha-…What are you doing here?” He stuttered, feeling like an idiot. He was sitting among a large pile of kitchen waste, surrounded by all sorts of smelly things and flies, and what the hell was the king suddenly doing here?!?

Tom slowly sat down, obviously not caring that he was getting trash all over himself, and leaned against the wall next to Bill. “The wedding is off,” he sighed softly, giving him a weak smile.

Bill swallowed. “W-what?”

“Princess Ria refused to marry me. I seem to be a very unpopular marriage candidate… Seriously, it’s the second time I get turned down. Though last time it was long before it even got to a marriage… But still pretty awful. You see, I knew this prince once… His beauty was legendary… But even though I had heard of it often before, I always thought people were exaggerating. However, one day I actually laid eyes upon him and realized they were right…”

Bill swallowed a sob, though this time it wasn’t purely out of misery.

“It’s a pretty funny story actually. Well… maybe not in the ha-ha kind of way, but you know. Cuz I never wanted to marry… My parents had been pressuring me about proposing to this prince for nearly two years already, cuz they wanted to settle this ridiculous lake conflict we’ve been having… Totally stupid. I really didn’t want to because my parents were just using me to solve their petty problems… But when I saw him… I fell so madly in love with him that I went there and proposed anyway. Can you believe that? I actually proposed to a total stranger who didn’t want to marry me any more than I wanted to marry him before knowing how beautiful he was… I’m such a superficial shmuck.”

Bill laughed softly, sniffing and wiping at his eyes that had tears for whole other reasons.

“And this prince turned out to be a total asshole. Seriously… He practically ruined my social life. Far and wide, kingdoms and courts were laughing about me because of that prince… But instead of hating him, the way any other person would have, I dressed like a dirty beggar, lived in a freezing, windy cottage that nearly killed me, bathed in a freaking river and walked two miles to my kingdom every day, just to be with him!” The king shook his head with a laugh before frowning a bit.

“Unfortunately, I was too scared to tell him the truth because I thought he would leave me… Even long after he had turned out to be the most incredible person on the planet, with whom I fell in love all over again, I was unable to tell him the truth. I guess in part I was also scared that in case he didn’t simply leave me for what I had done to him, we would grow apart by the royal life… I was so scared that the closeness we had as beggars wouldn’t last if we weren’t forced to live together anymore…” Thomas finally turned to face him with a sad expression.

“And when I did finally bring up enough courage to tell him the truth, he chose the beggar over the king… Can you believe that? What kind of a prince would rather be with a beggar than a king?” He reached over to gently brush away the remains of the tears on Bill’s cheek.

Bill gave a shuddery breath, closing his eyes against the touch that nearly made him cry again.

“Unfortunately, we had a horrible misunderstanding that cost us seven years of our lives… Seven years during which I did nothing but search and prey, hoping against reason that my prince was still out there somewhere. Hiding from me because he misunderstood the situation… And that one day I’d be able to find him and explain.”

Bill opened his eyes as he felt the king’s breath ghosting across his lips that were soon covered by the other man’s. Bill gave a choked sob against Tom’s lips and slumped against him, unable to sit up straight anymore. He wanted to scream and cry, but that really would have to wait because Tom was kissing him. The entire world had to wait until he was done, because seriously, how often did they really get to do this?

Regaining a bit of strength, Bill wrapped his arms around the other man, pulling him into a tight embrace and deepening the kiss that made them both moan.

“I missed you so much,” Tom whispered against his lips.

Bill just nodded, unable to find his voice until the entire situation began to sink in and he pulled away in horror.

“Wait a minute… What about your kingdom?” Bill had been so caught up in the king’s beautiful speech that he had totally forgotten the reason they couldn’t be together.

“What about yours?” the man asked in return.

“What?” Bill asked stunned. “I work in a kitchen.”

“And whose choice was that?” King Thomas smiled with a raised eyebrow, but Bill just stared at him.

“What do you mean?” He asked slowly.

“Didn’t you know that your mothers have also been looking for you all these years? You’re the only heir to your kingdom... Without you, someone else will take over – do you really want that?” He asked with a grin.

Bill was still staring at him. “You think my mothers would take me back?” He asked in disbelief.

“Your mothers love you, Bill. They regretted marrying you to me right after we had left… They miss you so much and also want you back.” The king assured him firmly, but Bill hesitated.

“And then what?” Not that he didn’t want to be with Tom – of course he did, more than anything – but when he thought back at his childhood and youth at the palace, it was so empty in comparison to the satisfying life he had built for himself here.

“And then…” Tom said slowly, pushing himself off the wall and kneeling in front of him. Bill swallowed, trying not to make any squeaky sounds as the monarch took his hand and placed a water lily in it. Where did he always get those from?!

“And then you could go back to your kingdom, take your rightful place on the throne and reign over your people in the same amazing fashion you mastered the rest of your life. And maybe someday, marry me and rule as king by my side,” Tom said softly, kissing the palm of his hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And so, King Thrushbeard and his prince got married, and both their kingdoms celebrated for three days and three nights, rejoicing in the unity of their kings and their countries. With the aid of Geraneia, Begonia blossomed into the beautiful country it had once been, and even the Lake-War was finally over after so many bitter years of battle (or insulting each other across the lake, whatever).  
As his first decree, the young King Bill Kaulitz established a goat protection law, from here on forth known as GFD (Goat Freedom Decree), that declared all goats must have a natural habitat to follow their grazing instincts and may not be kept in small stalls their whole life.   
The goat Goat remained living in the palace as the royal goat of the kings for the rest of her days.

And they all lived happily ever after.

 

The End


End file.
